Chain of Memories
by darkness over day
Summary: Set three years after Echoes. The Hopper Legacy of Technology is far from over. Aelita's dreams set her and her friends on a new journey. William seeks to redeem himself. But what happens when Jeremie gets captured? Where is Antea Hopper?
1. When Everything Goes Wrong

Code: Lyoko

Chain of Memories

_The wolf stared, not doing anything, and yet everything._

'_Mommy!!!'_

_The car pulled away_

_Despite the cold, that moment was seared into Aelita's memory forever._

…_Mommy's face…_

_Frozen in fear_

_Pressed against the back window of the car_

_Her cheeks still red from being outside just seconds ago_

_Tears, she was crying…_

_… Frozen in fear_

_The car pulled away _

_**MOMMY!!!**_

It was too late the car was gone Mommy was gone 

_The little girl lay in the snow, crying_

_Mommy was gone…_

_The people with the evil eyes took her _

Green eyes shot open, flinging away beads of cold sweat and tears. Rasping for breath, Aelita sat up, disoriented for a second. The next second however, she jumped up, her body tense, ready for what ever XANA had in store for her this time. For surely only XANA could have awoken her, surely it was launching an attack and Aelita was just jostled awake by a Polymorphing specter, an earthquake… or a giant invasion force of flying tuna. With XANA, you never really could classify his attacks as 'sane'. He did whatever works in the end for him.

The following second however, an insurmountable wave of grief crashed down upon Aelita.

"… oh"

XANA was dead… and so was her father. Dead for 3 years now… 3 years since Franz Hopper sacrificed himself to rid the world, both this one and the virtual one, of the virus known as XANA.

Aelita stiffly made her way back to her bed, only to find she would have to remake it due to her thrashing. Her pink sheets were crumpled and untucked; her pillow lay forgotten on the floor. Sighing at the unfairness of life, she stripped and reapplied her sheets. It was autumn for crying out loud, everything was firkin cold! The fact that she wore only her pink over shirt to sleep in didn't help either. She just wanted to crawl back in-between her 5 blankets and her mattress, and try and get a decent nights sleep for once.

Yeah… The nightmares didn't stop. Not have XANA died, not after her father died, not after the super computer shut down. Everything in her old haunted life was either dormant or dead… or a little of both, not even Jeremie could say for sure if it was one or the other. Yet still the nightmares persisted.

It must sound Cliché, but the nightmares were always the same…

"Mommy…"

…Yet, they always seemed new, they always seemed to fit some how.

Somehow, each nightmare seemed to paint a stroke on a canvas, and with each stroke, a picture came into focus. If Aelita had to put it in physical terms, she would say it was a painting… of her mothers face. Frozen in fear, crying icy tears, pressed against the back window of the Nissan SUV.

The pillow, which was seconds away from returning to its beloved spot at the head of the bed, was unceremoniously returned to the floor.

… Nissan SUV? Where… When… What?

… Where did that come from?

… When did I figure that out?

… What the hell is a Nissan SUV doing in the 80s?

No matter what impossibilities she could conjure up in her mind, nothing seemed to make her subconscious drop its iron grip of truth, that her mother was taken by a Nissan SUV.

How did I figure that out?

* * *

"Rosa, my sun, my life, my all! You're looking absolutely fabulous this morning! Is that a new Haircut, It's a new haircut isn't it? It's GOT to be a new Haircut! New makeup? You've had a lip? A—" 

The rant of compliments was soundly muted as an extra serving of eggs got dumped onto Odd Della Robbia's meal tray. Grinning with satisfaction, Odd he spared a quick thanks over his shoulder and maneuvered himself towards his friends.

Rosa could only wonder how the blond oddity could, even now, have fresh material to con extra food from her. 5 years of extra helpings for all 3 meals meant a lot of original ass kissing.

Seating himself next to Ulrich, Odd proceeded to make a pig of himself, all the while somehow maintaining the lecherous grin. Across the table, Aelita and Jeremie, who finally learned how to not lose his appetite when Odd eats, were talking about… cars, oddly enough.

"Look, I know you know what you saw; but as far as I know, there were no Nissan SUVs back then."

"I don't know, I 'Saw' the logo. I'll have to research models to find out exactly what one it was."

"Even If that wasn't a waste of time, how is the type of car even relevant? I know what your trying to do here Aelita, but… Its over, you shouldn't keep yourself buried in the past. Its time to move forward, look to the future."

"And just forget my past?! For all I know, she could be alive! Why didn't my dreams end after we shut down the supercomputer, where did my dreams lead us when it was still active?"

"They lead us to Mr. Puck, and then to your fathers diary. But that doesn't mean these dreams are going to lead us to another 'important discovery'." Said Ulrich, who had been listening to all of this long before Odd sat down, and actually knew what the hell everyone was talking about. Leaving a very confused Odd the only one at the table out of the conversation.

"They're leading me to my mother."

With that simple sentence, a tense and awkward silence descended on the table, until,

"Uhh…What's going on? Aelita's dreams are going to lead us to a free car? I think that's totally relevant Einstein!"

"Shut up, Odd." Came the terse reply from Aelita, who was in the middle of a stareing contest with Jeremie. The atmosphere became even more tense, more unwelcome and awkward. Eventually, just when it seemed as though some invisible bubble of tension was about to burst,

"Hiya!"

William.

* * *

Yeah! My first fic is well on its way! This is the 1st of hopefully many chapters of 'Chain Of Memories', You can find a one-shot based on a future scene of this story here: plan on adding more depth to each character next chapter, AND the reveaing of the main plot! GASP action unfolds! Next time on Chain of Memories! 

Remember to drop a review, or I'll run you over with a Nissan SUV! ... By the way, that ... waaaaasss a Nissan SUV in Aelitas dream in 'Distant Memory'... right?

... and they didn't exist in the 80s... right?


	2. When All Seems Lost

Chain Of Memories

Chapter 2

When All Seems Lost

"Hiya!"

William.

If anything could make this situation even tenser, it was William.

"Go away, William." Said Aelita, eyes still locked towards Jeremie.

"Oh, well… uh, all right. Just wanted to, uh… um"

Dejection set in on William's face. With shoulders slumped, he slouched away, quick as he came. Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie all stared unbelievingly at Aelita.

… Never had there little princess acted so mean before, and to think Aelita was the one most forgiving to William, after all that had happened.

* * *

"Burr!!!" Finally out of that cold, jeez! It's what, only a few weeks into autumn and it's freezing! 

These were the thoughts that belonged to Yumi Ishyama as she finally entered the school. Living off campus did have its advantages most of the time, but this had to be one of the cons: the commute; especially this time of year. She was a senior for the love of Krab! Shouldn't she get a car or something? Maybe a moped…no, a moped would not protect her from the cold, it would just add a wind-chill factor… Gah!

These and more pointless thoughts addled the teens mind as she made her way to the cafeteria, knowing that there, her friends would be. Odd, her favorite goofball, Jeremie, or Einstein as he is commonly referred too, Aelita, Pinkette princess, and Ulrich… stoic… brave… boyfriend Ulrich.

"Hiya Yumi"

… and then there's William.

"Oh, Hi Will"

…and he slouched pass, sparing only a glance a sideways glance.

Huh.

Usually, he acts different, what's gotten under his skin? More Importantly… what's going on here?

She had arrived at the table, to find it in complete silence. Everybody seemed to be looking at Aelita, who was only starting to realize what she had just done.

"Okay, what's with everyone this morning, who died?"

Of course, faithful old Odd was the first to supply an answer; although, Yumi would have accepted it without the lame joke attached, just another catch 22 with Odd.

"Princess here just gave the cold shoulder to Will, and I mean it was freezing! Almost as cold as outside!"

Jeremie finally seemed to regain his ability to talk, not believing that Aelita, _Princess_, had just been so mean.

"Previous conversation aside, that was totally uncalled for. I know we have a rough history with William, I know you didn't get enough sleep last night, but that was just nasty of you."

"Yeah, and aren't you William's little sympathetic anyways?" Said Ulrich. Not without a little bit of venom in his voice, this earned a glare from Jeremie.

Aelita, now fully aware of what just happened, leaned forward, covering her face with her hands. Groaning loudly, she looked up again. Her eyes now decorated with moisture.

"I know, I know! I don't know what came over me!" said Aelita, wiping away tears of frustration.

'Why did I just do that, does proveing that my dreams are real mean that much to me? I feel horrible, why did it have to be William; he's got enough to deal with already.'

The warning bell rung, and the populace of the cafeteria made their way to the door to the main building. Jeremie rubbed her shoulder, knowing what she was thinking.

"Its okay, you've been stressed. You should go apologize during our lunch break"

"He doesn't have our lunch"

"Fine, uh… after classes today, you could catch him at dinner or in the boys dorm, I'll help you if it's the latter"

That sounded like a plan, allowing herself a small smile, she looked at the boy next to her. "Thanks Jeremie".

* * *

Miss. Hurtz classes had only gotten harder over the years, Ulrich believed this one to be called 'advanced trigonometry'… or was it calculus? Checking the title of his textbook, he verified it was 'Advanced explorations in Trigonometry'. 

Uhhhggggg…

Watching Miss. Hurtz ramble on and on, falling into a daydream about Yumi; that's all Ulrich wished for. Yet due to the events at the breakfast table this morning, a blissful daydream could not come his way. He didn't know why he didn't like William, no… he knew. He also knew that it wasn't a fair reason.

William had a crush on Yumi,

They brought him to Lyoko,

He got possessed by XANA,

XANA used him to destroy Lyoko,

XANA used him to cause them so much grief,

XANA used him to kidnap Aelita so many times,

And even after they finally freed him from XANA's perma-possesion; he got himself possessed again trying to help out. He nearly killed Yumi. Jeremie had explained some theory or another that XANA's original possession made William more susceptible to mind control. Ulrich knew it wasn't his fault, but he didn't care. He knew William had good intentions, but he had done too many bad things in XANA's name. But that was 3 years ago.

Now… he was even worse in Ulrich's eyes.

He was pathetic; he had actually got on his hands and knees and begged Yumi to forgive him after XANA had been destroyed.

He followed them around everywhere, he would do anything, he was a pushover. He even said it out of his own mouth, he felt bad for all that he did. He wanted to make it up to the 5 of us, no matter what.

Apparently, XANA's possession was so traumatizing, combined with his incredible sense of guilt, had shattered William.

The old William was gone, the XANA possessed William was gone. Now, he was just a hunched, pale, ragged, weak, loner who felt no more purpose. Felt so betrayed. Felt so guilty.

He was Pathetic, and Ulrich wanted nothing more then to grab him by his shirt, and scream in his ear to go back to the way he was, to grow up… Unfortunately, Ulrich wasn't enough of a 'people person' to be able to do that. All Ulrich could really do, was watch William waste away. Aelita, if anybody, felt the worst for William, and was the most forgiving. Yet she had just lost her own father, and had her own problems to sort out at the time.

Miss. Hurtz continued to lecture, the clock continued to move impossibly slow, and Ulrich was no closer to a romantic daydream.

* * *

William, ever since that day, had been so different. From what little Aelita knew of him, he was a proud, bold, passionate individual. Aelita was there when it happened; she was the one that took him to Lyoko for the first time. She was there, when XANA possessed him; and she was devurtualized by him seconds later. 

She knew he was traumatized, she knew how guilty he must feel, she knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to do the right thing, even now.

The doors swung open, and William slouched into the stairwell.

"Hi Aelita… Jeremie," He motioned behind him, towards the boy dorms just behind the door. "...said you needed to talk to me."

This was it

" I do, I wanted to say I'm sorry for this morning, I was stressed and the way I snapped at you was totally uncalled for… and…"

Come on!

"I know, you want to make things right William, but you shouldn't try so hard. We forgive you, it wasn't your fault, it never was your fault. It was all XANA."

…

"I'd like to think that Aelita, I really do, but remember. I remember every single thing that I did to you and your friends. If I wasn't told otherwise, I would have thought I did those things on my own free will… Its scary."

Aelita could imagine, usually people possessed by XANA didn't remember a thing, but then again, William never had an ordinary possession.

"Its admirable that your trying to make up that, but you need to move forward Will, your destroying your life by staying this way. Look to the future."

'Did I just use Jeremie's quote from this morning.'

"No, Aelita"

The look in Williams eyes as he said this; spoke novels of pure determination.

"Not until I set things right"

… "I hope that day comes soon William, nobody wants you to live this sort of life"

William smiled, something that hasn't been seen on his face for a long time. Even if it was a small one.

"Thank you, Aelita. Goodnight."

The tone of voice, the look in his eyes… Yeah, Aelita could tell, this was progress!

"Goodnight William."

The Doors swung open, and William left.

"Well, I think that went well." Said a familiar voice from somewhere above her.

" Although, you could have used something different the my line, that's just plain Ironic." Said Jeremie as he walked down the flight of stairs.

Aelita giggled, its funny how great minds think alike.

"Yeah, I thought it was ironic also, I didn't even realize I was saying it until after I said it"

Jeremie snorted, sometimes Aelita was just too cute. He checked his watch, 9:57, just 3 minuets until Jim called lights out.

"Well, I'm glad you finally got through to him. Hopefully we can have our old William back soon. Anyway, that's it for me. I'm going to bed, we only got 3 minuets till G. I. Jimbo does his rounds."

Turning away, Jeremie felt Aelita tug his arm. Turing around, Aelita caught by surprise with a kiss to the cheek. Blushing like crazy, he managed to stutter out, "w-what was that for?"

"For helping me realize that maybe, it is time to look to the future. Because in our past, both Williams, and mine, we have nothing to gain from holding on to it when all seems lost. We do need to look to the future."

Gathering her courage, she managed to say the last part that she wanted to say for a long time.

"I Hope you're in my future Jeremie."

And with that, she sped away to the girl dorms, blushing madly. Jeremie stood stock still in the Stairwell, processing what had just happened. Finally a huge grin broke across Jeremie's face.

'Aelita… Wow!'

* * *

"**MOMMY!**" 

Aelita sat bolt upright, drenched in sweat and tears. Collecting her thoughts, she realized just what had happened. Just what she saw…

'I need to tell Jeremie'

Not even noticing the cold, she left her room.

* * *

Yeah! My first real cliffy! 

So, How do you like it so far? To little detail? To many spelling mistakes? Come on, 2x4 me. Review!!!!!!!!

* * *


	3. Get Into The Action

Chain Of Memories

Chapter 3

Get Into the Action, Part 1

Jeremie was a workaholic, had been his entire life. XANA only proved that point time and time again. When he and the others first discovered Aelita, Jeremie spent many sleepless nights trying to find a way to materialize her onto earth. After that, Jeremie spent an even longer time trying to find an anti-virus for Aelita. Then there was the materialization directly into sector 5, the vehicles, the marabunta, decoding Franz Hoppers diary, Odd's teleportation, the program to find Franz Hopper on Lyoko, the Skidbladnir, Williams clone, the translation program, and finally the multi agent program that he and Franz Hopper built together to destroy XANA once and for all…

Yeah, he had a lot of things under his belt. More often then not, his keyboard was his pillow.

Now, there was nothing. Nothing to do, nothing to work on, no pinkettes who's heart's stops beating when the supercomputer they're linked to is flipped off, no genius who was centuries ahead of his time taken prisoner by his own self-evolving creation, no hotheaded boys who got perma-possesed by said creation and needed to be freed from their own bodies.

… Jeremie was a workaholic, and he was 3 years in withdrawal. Having spent almost all his time he attended in Kadic academy fighting XANA, he just couldn't adjust to the 8 hours of sleep that was the norm. To pass the night, he read books, books by Einstein, plays by Shakespeare. Heh, the novels by Dan Brown were his favorite. He was currently sitting up in his bed, reading 'Digital Fortress', where he already discovered some plot holes.

'There's no such thing as an unbreakable algorithm, no way… Unless… I'd need the supercomputer…'

And there he went again, dreaming up impossibilities that could be made real only with Franz Hoppers creation, the creation that had been shut off for 3 years. Impossibilities that could shape the world if one wanted to.

'If it could be constantly changing, no brute force method would ever be able to break it, but it would need a back door. No, that would defeat the purpose, the back door would be found, unless…'

The ingenious and diabolical rant was cut short, as Aelita burst through his door, not even bothering to keep quiet.

"Aelita? What are you doing!?" hissed Jeremie, trying to keep quiet for the sake of not getting caught. Aelita stood there, trembling from both the cold and fright. Tears streamed down her face.

"I… I kn-kn-know wh-who took h-her" she said, before giving in to her shivering. Jeremie scrambled out of bed, not even bothering to mark his page. He wrapped his arms around Aelita, trying to stop her shaking and get her warm again, she was ice cold.

"Who? XANA?"

"Lupos"

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you want to activate the supercomputer again." Yumi said darkly. She, Ulrich, and Odd were less then up to the idea. It was breakfast once again, and the group minus Aelita was presented with Jeremie's plan

"Only for a little while, everything I've tried to find on this 'Lupos' has been a dead end, except one thing." Said Jeremie, who had spent the rest of the morning since Aelita woken him up, researching who or what 'Lupos' could be.

"And, that would be?" questioned Ulrich.

"Doesn't Lupos mean wolf?" piped in Odd

"Shut up, Odd" Jeremie said sternly, "A company, so far all I know is that their name is Lupos, I'll have to do some hacking in order to gain any more information. To do that, I'll need to use the supercomputer. The fact that they have their information guarded is reason enough to suspect them."

"Suspect them!" Ulrich erupted, "You're doing this because Aelita dreamt it. I know her dreams have been right in the past, but this is just crazy, for all we know Aelita's mother is… well…not around. Besides, I thought turning off the supercomputer meant we were done with this… whole Lyoko thing." Ulrich's voice lowered more and more as he said this, until it was a mere whisper when he mentioned Lyoko.

"This doesn't have anything to do with Lyoko though!" Jeremie countered, "I'm just going to use the supercomputers processing power and resources to hack into their network. If I don't find anything suspicious then I'll power it down immediately."

Taking a deep breath, Jeremie decided to speak his mind, "I know things have quieted down, and I know the world isn't in dire need of saving. But at the very beginning, we fought XANA merely because we cared about Aelita as a person. We believed she was someone who could really be saved, and we risked our lives to save her. Now, there's another person who could need saving. It doesn't matter if Lupos turns out to be another demonic AI, a company or something else. The Lyoko warriors that I knew who fought for Aelita would risk everything without hesitation to help their friend. Aelita's mother could very well be found by doing this, and… what difference… what…" He broke off, dammit; he still didn't have the spine to do this!

Luckily, Yumi got the idea,

"Your going to risk it all again, as long as somebody needs saving, and you expected us to do the same." she said in a monotone voice.

Jeremie hung his head, in an almost ashamed fashion,

"I was hoping you would…"

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich all glanced at each other. An unspoken understanding passed between all three of them, just as Aelita sat down.

"Good morning", Said Aelita. The shadows under her eyes, the weariness in her voice, anybody could tell she was even more stressed now then ever. She never did go back to sleep after her nightmare, and it showed.

"What's on today's agenda?" she asked hollowly, moving her food around with her fork, with no intention of eating it.

"Well," started Ulrich, "we have that test in Trig, that worksheet is due for Latin."

"Its spaghetti for lunch today!" said Odd exuberantly.

"Then, since there are no afternoon classes today, we're going to swing by the factory and find out where your mom is." Finished Yumi, in a mock-plain voice, although, she couldn't help but crack a grin when Aelita abruptly looked up.

"What!?!"

* * *

"Lyoko connection: established" announced the automated female voice.

3 Years… had it really been that long? It certainly felt like it to Aelita. The faint vibration of the supercomputer under their feet seemed to make the whole place hum with an eerie sense of life. Odd was off to the side, playing Ulrich's DS, he called the game Tetris. Aelita vaguely remembered how she saved Jeremie's life with the help of that DS and the little bit of extra memory it's provided.

Ulrich and Yumi were playing shogi on the lab floor, a common Japanese board game, one of Aelita's favorites to play. She had first learned it from Yumi over the summer after XANA escaped the supercomputer. Later on, she challenged Jeremie to a couple of games; but he apparently also was a genius at strategies.

Right now though, Aelita wasn't in the mood for games… she was dead serious. Jeremie was currently hacking his way in, but it would take some time…too much time…

… Something was wrong…It had taken less time, seconds in fact, to hack the defense network of major superpowers like America and Japan, Aelita knew this because they had to do so when XANA took over a military satellite armed with a laser weapon.

But this was taking to long, She knew it, and she knew Jeremie knew. Sparing a glance at said boy, she found him glaring at the screen, thinking hard.

'What are the possibilities?' thought Jeremie, 'could there be a firewall? No, the supercomputer could sneak past any firewall. There could be… another… yes, if this company is indeed related to Franz Hoppers past…yes it all fits, it's the only explanation.'

"I can't get in," Jeremie finally announced. "But I know why."

Aelita had expected Jeremie to say the former, but not the latter. Odd looked up from his game, Yumi and Ulrich, who still had his hand outstretched to move a black piece, stared in bewilderment.

"But, isn't that why you wanted to use the supercomputer in the first place? To use it because the supercomputer could hack anything!" asked Ulrich, alarmed.

"Exactly, but just the same, if Aelita's dream is true, I know that they are indeed the ones who took Aelita's mother." Said a still thinking Jeremie.

Aelita almost squealed, "But how, how could you tell just by not being able to get in with my fathers supercomputer?"

"Because," Jeremie responded evenly, "The only thing that would be able to block your fathers supercomputer from hacking in, is another supercomputer, of equal or greater power." Remembering how everybody except Aelita needed a translation of what he said with more basic words whenever he talked technology, Jeremie turned his chair to face the rest of the group, "Make sense so far?"

"So does that mean, like, they have a Replika?" asked Odd. Who knew even with his addled brain that usually, another supercomputer equaled another virtual world when it came to things involving XANA or the Hoppers.

"It might" responded Jeremie, "Either way, all the Replikas were destroyed when Franz sacrificed himself. Then again, this wouldn't be an ordinary Replika if it is directly involved with Aelita's family." Aelita could hardly believe it; she had a lead to her mother! This was incredible; she might not be alone in the world after all! Suddenly, the supercomputer opened another window, this one sporting a green plus sign.

"Yes!" Jeremie. "It worked! I have no doubt that another supercomputer is guarding the network, but still, I managed to get into some lower priority data files." Grabbing the mouse, Jeremie opened one, and gasped. Aelita looked over his shoulder, and also drew an audible noise, "oh… No!"

"What, what is it?" asked Odd

"See for yourself"

He, Ulrich and Yumi all got up and crowded around the screen, games forgotten. "I don't believe it" whispered Yumi.

There stood the eye of XANA, bright as day… as the company logo.

* * *

Huzzah! and no, XANA is not alive. You'll have to see what this means for yourselves.

I used Lupos because wolfs are a re-occuring theme in the entire Code Lyoko series. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon. Remember to review or I'll sick kiwi on you!


	4. So It Begins

Chain of Memories

Chapter 4

Get Into The Action: Part 2

'XANA… he couldn't be back. Not after Franz Hopper sacrificed himself. He wouldn't sacrifice himself unless he was sure he was taking all of XANA out with him. He wouldn't abandon his daughter… There has to be another explanation.'

These and more thoughts belonged to Jeremie, stareing at the monitor screen now blazing blood red from the color themed web page. He dimly heard Odd joke about if this made the company suspicious yet. He also heard Yumi respond with a monotone, "Shut up, Odd".

Aelita was trembling again, Jeremie noticed, and who could blame her; she just found out that her father's sacrifice was in vain, or at least she thought so…

"This isn't XANA." Jeremie finally spoke after what seemed to be an eternity. His statement however, was meet with less then believable reactions.

"In case you haven't noticed Jer" Ulrich said deliberately slow, "XANA's calling card is the center piece of this company, it's the fricken logo for crying out loud! How do you figure this isn't XANA?" Odd, Yumi, even Aelita had skeptical looks that mirrored Ulrich's words.

Taking a deep breath, Jeremie could only imagine how badly Odd would ask for a translation in simpler words, of what he was about to say.

"I know it must sound like I'm blowing my own horn, but I wrote the multi agent program that wiped out XANA myself." Said Jeremie passionately.

"I knew the ins and outs of it, I know for a fact there is nothing remaining of XANA on the net. That is not enough to convince you though, I'm sure. My second reason is that this company is now, without a doubt, directly related in the events of Hopper family. What ever happened between Aelita's father and mother and this company, could very well related to Franz developing Lyoko's technology 10 years ago. The eye of XANA, as we tend to call it, is used not only by XANA, but also by all of Lyoko's programs. I'm sure you noticed how tower platforms, the arena at sector 5, and the floodgates all have the eye of XANA on them, while they are completely separate programs." Aelita nodded in confirmation.

"My hypothesis is that the eye is actually a symbol coded into all programs made by Franz Hopper. Franz once said in his diary that he built sector 5 and XANA to combat a military program called 'Project Carthage'… I believe this, 'Lupos', was the company that the French military hired to do military research, the one behind Project Carthage, and the one that Franz originally worked for. There-for they coded the eye, their logo, into their programming." Odd was seconds away from complaining that Jeremie was not making sense, but Jeremie beat him to the punch, "In other words, Aelita's father worked at this company, companies tend to put their logo's on their products, Lyoko is made by Franz."

"Okay, that makes sense" Agreed Yumi, "But it still doesn't rule out the possibility of XANA."

"Fair enough" agreed Jeremie. "But now, the question is: What do we do about all this?"

"Can't you just make another Skid, we go web diving again, and take out that repika?" said Odd, like it was obvious.

"Out of the question!" said an alarmed Aelita, having spoken for the first time. "This is the first possibility that I have to see my mother again, we are NOT about to destroy it!"

"So then what do we do?" questioned Ulrich. "Build another Skid, go to the replika, translate back to earth and investigate this company?"

"Can't, I'd have to write all the Skidbladinr's virtual data again, I have its basic programming backed up, but actually getting a tangible version on Lyoko would take months." Said Jeremie, turning back to the monitor screen, "and for once, I don't feel like any more sleepless nights, especially when there's an easier way, check this out! From what little I have access too; apparently Lupos is hosting an unveiling of a groundbreaking technology in Paris next week to major software company CEO's! This sounds huge, and yet its been kept very low-key, that must be why the public doesn't know" Jeremie said excitedly, "We could sneak in there and check out what Lupos is up to. It'll be dangerous if we get caught, so we'll need some form of protection."

"We? Whoa there Einstein, you sure that's a good idea?" said Ulrich cautiously. "You haven't exactly participated in missions on ground level in our past, Not only that, but from the way you phrased that party, we can't exactly waltz right in. How do you expect us get in?"

"First off," responded Jeremie, "I imagine I could hack our names into the invitation list. Won't be easy, I'd probably need one or two days. I won't use our real names because Aelita's name would be a dead give away. Secondly, from what we know so far, there is no immediate danger to ourselves. I won't be much help monitoring your progress through a facility that has me completely blocked from this end. I wouldn't be able to gain any building schematics; hack into their systems, or anything else I did back when I helped you guys destroy the Replikas. The way I see it, the best thing for me to do is to be directly at the scene."

"Okay, what about protection," interjected Yumi, "you said it 'could' be dangerous. If we get found out, we'd all get captured, just like Aelita's mother."

"Which is why you're going as your translated Lyoko-selves. If we get discovered, I'm sure you will be more then a match for whatever security they have." Jeremie said smugly.

"Uh, Einstein, I hate to rattle on your plan." Said Odd, "But this party thing sounds fancy. As the resident giant purple cat, I'd like to point out we'd be an eye soar next to Bill Gates and his tux gang."

"Odd has a point, Jeremie." agreed Aelita, "You say we'd need to blend in with the crowd, but if we go as our Lyoko-selves, our cover would be blown. We have to find another way."

"Oh, no we don't." Said Jeremie even more smugly. "You really think I haven't thought of possibilities for programs over 3 years? I've got an idea, but we'll need formal clothes. …And I doubt Bill Gates will be here Odd, this web page doesn't say a thing about Microsoft."

"Rich guys aside, I've got a Kimono at home I could use, but what about the rest of you?" questioned Yumi

"Awww, what's wrong with purple?" complained Odd.

"Shut up, Odd" Said Ulrich plainly, Odd hung his head in shame, that was the 4th time in two days people told him to shut up.

"Where in the world do we get tuxedos, Einstein?" said Ulrich, "Formal cloths were not exactly something we were thinking of when we were packing for Kadic."

"I got that covered, Franz Hopper decided to use his diary to store more then just notes on how he built Lyoko, he also put in some personal information like his bank account, accessible only though this monitor, right in front of me. We would take enough to cover the cost of clothes and transportation from here to Paris. We'll be using Franz Hopper's own money, to save his wife." Jeremie said evenly, "But only if Aelita says its okay, after all, it technically is her money now."

Aelita didn't even need time to consider, "Its also my mother, Lets do it."


	5. Price Cheak!

Chain of Memories

Chapter 5

Get Into the Action pt 3

Jeremie had had only one eye soar in his entire life, at that was the first time he walked into Aelitas room. The group had finally freed Aelita from Lyoko, and she was setting into her new boarding room in Kadic Academy as a new student. After discovering the hermitage however, and the escaping the dangers of her former, XANA possessed, home. Jeremie had pooled his money together to buy Aelita a pink cell phone. This wasn't easy however, seeing as how his parents were funneling most of their money into his tuition for such a prestigious school. So Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd took it upon themselves, pooling together what little they had, and took Aelita out for cloths, school supplies and other necessities to personalize her room. Jeremie, working on the anti-virus at the time, had unknowingly walked into Aelita's room hours after she had finished decorating. He remembered it took approximately 11 seconds to get his bearings and discover that he had not, in fact, walked into some bright pink void.

Taking Aelita shopping, he prepared to the most extreme, another bright pink void, this one comprised of a pile of clothes. Weren't all females' nuts about shopping? That's the stereotype wasn't it? And her fathers fortune was nothing to laugh at, over 3 million euros, that was practically handing her a blank check! Jeremie had no idea; this was a first for him. Ulrich and Odd didn't even come with him to ask them what to do, of course they had gotten their clothes yesterday, (Odd of course, getting a very dark purple striped Tux with cuffs, reminding Jeremie of Willy Wonka) and it would have been hard to convince them to go shopping again without explaining his very awkward dilemma. In all his 6 years of knowing Aelita, he had never once taken her shopping, of course for a good 1.5 of those years, she had been little more then an artificial intelligence incapable of even taking physical form, but that was no excuse! He should have done this a little more often with her after they deleted X.A.N.A.

3 Years of opportunities wasted, was all he could conclude. At first, Aelita was in mourning of her father. Remaining an anti-social, depressed shell, the exact opposite of the naïve innocent angel she was before she ever recovered her memories. Jeremie never believed ignorance was bliss, but now, he couldn't agree more. With her bright pink hair, and pinkish red clothing, she was almost fantasy-ishly gothic. She moved on however, showing that time does heal wounds. She was patient, caring, and fun and Jeremie loved her, and he knew she liked him back. But, it never felt right… asking her so soon after her father's sacrifice, even if it truly was a long time ago. Their relationship remained neutral, neither advancing nor lessening.

That is, until she kissed him the night before last.

Its funny, XANA brought them all together. Jeremie discovered the supercomputer, found Aelita and intended to not tell anybody about it. Then the attacks began. He had been electrocuted by the vending machine and attacked by his own robots, robots that were programmed to push around balls! Ulrich saved him both times, so Jeremie told him about the supercomputer. Ulrich wanted to test the virtualization process on Odds dog, Kiwi, which naturally brought Odd into the fold. Yumi found out fleeing from XANAs first real attack, a giant ball of electricity.

Now, they were inseparable, best friends of his life. Now X.A.N.A was dead, and only tension had grown between them. Ulrich and Yumi were now officially together, but had been going steady. Odd had only become lamer with his jokes, which was practically all he ever did. Aelita and him… Aelita was depressed, stressed and had nightmares, and he… he didn't know anymore, his role was always clearly defined when the super computer was active. The tech guy, the brains, the one who sat on his ass 24/7 while his friends were fighting for their lives, the one who just waited for X.A.N.A's polymorphic specter or possessed human to zap him out of the computer chair and take over the all-important controls to the supercomputer.

Jeremie stopped this train of thought, realizing he was squeezing his new dark blue Tuxedo. Oh yeah, he was shopping with Aelita. For their big infiltration mission, they're first mission in a long time. Some inexplicable veil of gray crystal depression had settled over him and his friends ever since that day, and the recent events had shattered that veil.

Yumi had trouble coming up with an alibi for her parents as to why she would be missing for the next few days, Ulrich and Odd coming up with a similar alibi for the school to explain their absences from the entire campus. Just like old times, Odd was being hyperactive and assuming they were all going to be heroes again, while trying to get Milly and Tameia to feed Kiwi while he's away. Yumi giving her parents the slip, balancing schoolwork, driving away Hiroke, etc. Ulrich was trying to balance out school with all their plans and his jealousy because William was asking Yumi out.

… Scratch that last part… William is completely different from what he was back then…he just wants revenge now, revenge on XANA that he'll never get, and he knows it.

William didn't even know what they were planning.

Comprehension dawned on Jeremie

'Oh…'

Aelita emerged from behind a shoe rack, a box containing little pink high heels in hand. Her light pink dress was already picked out and lying inside the gray shopping cart. Despite the vast amount of money at their disposal, they were at a cheap store, the kind with the tiled floor, tag specials and tacky music playing constantly. Jeremie was a little surprised because it was Aelita herself who suggested it.

"You alive in there?"

Aelita waved the box in front of Jeremie's face before setting it inside the cart. Not even waiting for him to respond, she pushed it off and headed towards the register. Jogging a little to catch up, Jeremie frowned.

"Your in a hurry." He observed.

"I just want to get this over with. The less time we spend here, the more time we have to plan." She said, not even turning to look at him.

Jeremie in all his genius had a moment of naiveté. Weren't girls supposed to like shopping? She didn't even try on her dress!

"Aelita", started Jeremie slowly, helping her load the whooping 5 items onto the register counter to be scanned by the cashier. "I've got an idea, you might think this is a little crazy, but hear me out"

"Your going to recruit William, aren't you?" responded Aelita evenly.

"Well," said Jeremie, caught off guard. He really shouldn't be surprised, Aelita was as smart as he was, "I know Yumi and Ulrich will never go for the idea, but it's your mission if we tell him, he would be more then willing to accept."

The purchasing over, the duo zipped and buttoned their respective jackets, Aelitas a long dark pink and Jeremie's a light nylon grey, as they made their way to the automatic door.

"I know Jeremie" said Aelita, still not facing him. "Even if there's a slight chance this could bring back my mother. I'm going all out for it, Yumi and Ulrich can just deal with it."

A moment of silence as they reached the automatic doors, the dark and no doubt extremely chilly outside, in view. "So, you want to ask him, or should I?" Jeremie asked.

"You needn't worry," said Aelita, turning to face him for the first time. A sly grin adorned her face, the first time he'd seen her smile in a while. "I already asked him, maybe dropped the hint that there's the possibility of X.A.N.A. being alive a few more times then necessary, he's more then willing."

And with that, Aelita walked forward, the automatic doors 'Whooshed' open, hitting Jeremie with a wall of cold air, and she disappeared into the night. Jeremie, both processing how deviant his little angel had just acted and recovering from the surprise of the cold air, a stark contrast to the dry, heated atmosphere of the bland department store, didn't regain his senses until after the doors closed again, leavening him along in the store.

'She wants her mother back… at any cost' he realized. Grinning, he too, walked forward into the cold night.

'I might just understand girls yet.'


	6. Bus Ride Blues

Chain of Memories

Chapter 6

William… **hated** this. To William, hate was a strong word, but he felt it described his current feelings perfectly. The strange tingle, the heightened senses. He may not remember what he did while he was possessed by X.A.N.A, but this certainly brought back some unpleasant feelings.

Tree… tree… tree… billboard… tree… tree… billboard… rock… tree… tunnel with an endless stream of those orange lights… those green plastic posts… tree… tree… endless stretch of concrete. The wall of the freeway.

He didn't exactly know what was going on, but neither did he care. X.A.N.A…. might still be alive!

'He could be possessing other people, like he did to me… he could be doing to other people what he did to me!'

William would _not _let that happen, no matter what… even if it was this.

Currently, he was riding in the fouteenth seat back on the left of a giant tour bus. The kind with purple stitched seats, T.V. screens in the seat heads, tray tables and everything. He leaned over in his seat and looked down the middle of the bus, at Yumi. Boy, when she first found out that he was going with them, she was pissed. Saying things, _lies_, right in front of him, to everybody else. Did she really think that?

'Does she really think I'm still dangerous, a liability?'

This was Yumi… the same Yumi he developed such a strong friendship with in their sophomore year. The same Yumi who he was falling in love with… William… felt betrayed. William bet she hated this situation way more then he did. Why?

'She hates me… after everything… after all the hardships I've had, she hates me for something that wasn't even my fault… that wasn't me… that was somebody else, **THAT WASN'T ME!**'

As if to add insult to injury, Ulrich put his arm over Yumi's shoulder, and the two, who had been in conversation moments before, fell into deep, dramatic silence. William knew, knew that she had chosen, knew that she would never leave Ulrich, knew she hated him now, knew… that she would never be his.

All because of X.A.N.A.

'I'm going to get you X.A.N.A., for ruining my _life_! If some part of you is still alive, I'll make you wish you had never been programmed!'

Tugging at his cuffs, he sorely wished he could take his entire tuxedo off, but alas. According to Jeremie, he couldn't take it off, not without possibly unbalancing the program and bugging it up. Being so far away from the supercomputer, Jeremie would have no chance to fix it. This how ever, didn't stop Odd from parading up and down the tour bus fully clad in his dark purple suit, complete with a dyed purple wood cane (that was used as a sword, more often then not), the long tails that one would expect to see on a butler, a frilly lace chest that belonged buried in what ever time-period it had been dug up from, and a rich purple top hat. Not being able to fit his spike inside the hat, he greased his hair down, 'just for the occasion' he repeatedly reminded everyone. Overall, he pulled off some flamboyant mafia look in Williams' opinion, however Jeremie's opinion seemed just a legitimate, a midget Willy Wonka. Odds little suit cost probably the most out of any of theirs. According to Aelita however, money was not an issue, this fact could only be illustrated by the fact that they were all in a fancy tour bus devoid of anyone else except the driver, Ron was his name if William remembered correctly, and the gang. Rented for their own use and them alone, for an entire week.

Good times.

… At least for everybody else

The concrete wall finally gave way to scenery, this time fields, a dull gray sky, and a sign saying they were merely fifty two kilometers outside Paris.

Ah, Paris, the city of lights.

William glared out the window, at the empty fields, hating every moment of those fifty two kilometers to come.

* * *

Jeremie typed away on his laptop, a new one with multi-gig ram, a quad core processor and other amazing features, one of which was a custom synchronization with the supercomputer. If one thought hard enough when listening to one of Jeremie's rants about it, they might be able to realize that it has the ability to be anywhere in the world away from the supercomputer, and still do such intricate things like communicate on Lyoko, initiate virtualizations, etc. Jeremie was quite proud of this custom synchronization he managed to slap together in mere hours. 

Across from him, Aelita stared out the window.

"Fifty two Kilometers", she spoke suddenly. "Till we get there."

"We have a couple hours then" said Jeremie, catching a mere glimpse of the sign he figured Aelita got that information from.

Sitting back, he removed his glasses, also new with a thinner wire frame. Rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand as he closed the laptop with the other.

"We're set, the programs aren't in any danger of bugging up on us anytime soon."

"That's good," said Aelita, "I'd hate to have our cover blown because of something so trivial."

"Can you imagine it?" asked Jeremie, "What would happen if Odd suddenly bugged up right in front of everyone? Probably brush it off with a joke or something about television reception."

"…" Aelita made no indication she heard him, continuing to stare out at the empty fields outside her window.

She'd been like this for a while now

"Its going to be okay," said Jeremie, who only assumed it was pre-mission jitters, that or something about Antea. "We're going to find your mother."

"You don't understand," said Aelita, whose voice rapidly became more strained. "My mother has been off the face of the earth for two decades, who can say she's even still alive?"

"But we have to assume she is!" said Jeremie, desperate to change Aelita's opinion, to give her some hope. "Other wise, what's the whole point of the mission?"

"I'm not sure Jeremie, maybe to find out what sort of lobbyist thinks they can pervert my fathers technology to further their quarter profits!?" responded Aelita in a very sarcastic, and a not so venom-free voice.

Silence… a very awkward silence, in which the bus hit a pothole and a rather loud giggle coming from Odd came from the very back of the bus.

"… You don't think its X.A.N.A?" asked Jeremie, genuinely curious yet still glad to have a different topic

Aelita looked at him, really looked. Jeremie couldn't understand her expression, yet…

"No" she said finally. "It can't be X.A.N.A. my father was brilliant, he wouldn't do something as dumb as killing himself without taking all of X.A.N.A. with him. He risked his life for mine when he rescued me from the digital sea, he would've made sure the counter multi-agent program was perfect. He wouldn't have left a single byte of X.A.N.A. anywhere."

Aelita turned back to the window, "If I remember my father, he wouldn't want to leave me alone with X.A.N.A. for an instant, no matter how much it would have been weakened."

Jeremie looked thoughtfully at her, trying to read her thoughts.

Another long silence.

He finally took Aelita's hand.

"Think of it this way, all the facts point to this company. No matter what, tomorrow, we will find out about your mother, about your family's past."

Aelita squeezed his hand.

"I hope so."

* * *

51.784 KM away… 

The screen flickered, briefly revealing the man's gaunt features to the woman. He brought his face closer to the screen

"It seems we have some last minuet entrees to our guest list Ell, some people just don't like to be excluded apparently." Leaning back in his chair, he scratched his chin.

"If they are who I think they are, please, Ell, prepare a proper welcome."

The female turned and left, The male turned back to the screen.

'So the game of chess begins, but is it wise? Waldo, why do you move all your strongest pieces against me in such an uncoordinated move? Are you that desperate to retrieve your queen? Even enough, to send in your princess?'

'…your mistake.'

* * *

Enter Villain, mwuhahaha It's been a while but I'm still alive and kicking, This time, REVIEW NUMBNUTS! by not reviewing, I grow depressed and may not finish the story, no joke. What is this 'program' affecting the others. who is this evil-do-er and what are his goals? Will Aelita see her mother again? Will Odd ever get a word in my story without people telling him to Shut up? 

... I'd say find out next time on COM, but thats dependent on weather or not you review my writing in the strictist way possible!


	7. How To Crash a Party

Chain of Memories

Chapter 7

How To Crash a Party

Twas not a pretty sight, the walk from the hotel they reserved to the location of the Lupos unveiling. The streets of Paris, France were said to be beautiful, said to be the city of lights. Aelita chalked it all to mere hearsay for the tourists to believe, for she had seen plenty of disgusting things on the little walk. Plenty of drunks, stoners and prostitutes for one night at least. Had she not known Jeremie had had to make a rushed decision about which hotel to rent, she probably would have scolded him for choosing such a location to have as a temporary base, if not for the commute.

The tram ride was embarrassing, smelly and crowded, embarrassing because Odd refused to wear anything else besides his new purple suit, hat and cane despite Jeremie's concern that he'd stick out in a crowd and make them look suspicious at the unveiling. Also, Yumi's kimono, black like everything else she wore but with red sakura flower petals decorating it and a red sash, made her just as unusual as anything else. This only added to Jeremie's concern, as keeping their cover was vital, but with a group this 'cultured', that might not be so easy. The people on the tram proved that point, giving Odd an especially peculiar look, and one poor fool commented on Yumi's attire being Chinese. Aelita was at least grateful there _was_ a tram to shorten the distance of their walk.

Just their luck that they had to get off at the wrong stop, of course. Instead of a rich, urban, upper class district, they landed in just the opposite, the red light district. Jeremie insisted that they just had to walk a couple blocks, yet he made it sound so fast and simple then. Aelita, who was wearing a rather thin pink dress, one that hugged her fairly well yet didn't have any sleeves or other features about it, was shivering from the cold, even with Jeremie's coat jacket around her shoulders. Despite her dress going well past her ankles, she couldn't help but wish it were longer, what with all the looks she was getting. Had she not have been surrounded by four male friends, Aelita was willing to bet that something very, very bad would have happened already.

Finally, making one last turn, the group of six finally and abruptly transitioned from ghetto to classy. Intricate cast iron streetlights decorated the sides of a coble stone street, while the sidewalk had its own bundles of finely pruned bushes running parallel on either side of it. Walking down this sidewalk, after just coming out of such a drastically different place, Aelita couldn't help but think it was all a façade, a rather depressing thought.

"Finally!" shouted Odd exuberantly, "Next time Jeremie, either get your train stops right, or leave the girls behind." He waggled his finger, "You naughty boy." He said in the most annoying way possible.

"Oh shut up, will ya Odd?" said Jeremie, before checking his GPS on his laptop. Indicating that they only had a little farther to walk. Minutes later, the building loamed before them. Black tuxedoed bouncers wearing sunglasses stood guard over the door, while valet boys took the cars of the party-goers to park them up in a parking garage on the other side of the building.

"Okay, everyone, listen up." Said Jeremie in a whisper voice, just beyond the radius of the red light being generated by the front entrance company themed decorations.

"We won't have much of a chance to talk while we're inside, so here's the plan, We should go in as pairs, just to make us look less suspicious. Aelita will be with me because we can pass off as a couple, same goes for Ulrich and Yumi, William and Odd, you two should go one at a time. Aelita and I will go first, that way, if there's a problem, I can rectify it by asking them some questions about the names. I didn't use our real names because they would have recognized Aelita. So Aelita, your name is now Maya Light, Yumi, your name is Keiko Uruhara. Ulrich, your new name is Thomas Wash, William, your name is West Fenton, and Odd, your now Otto Robinson. These are your fabricated guest passes," said Jeremie, handing out a metal card, decorated with the eye of X.A.N.A. and embedded with their fake names.

"Oh come on, that name sounds so stupid! You didn't even change the initials!" complained Odd, looking at his invitation. "Besides, you only had to change Aelita's name, its not like we have family history with them, they can't possibly know about us."

"Odd, if this _is _in fact X.A.N.A., how ever unlikely, then he would know all of us by name." Jeremie retorted, "By picking names that are completely random, he would have no way of knowing we were coming."

"Not taking any chances. Are you?" observed William, who had been quiet all night, the whole time they had been in Paris in fact.

"No way" confirmed Jeremie, "Not this time. I'm covering all our bases. Once we get in however, any number of things could happen."

Huddling up, the group of six young adults, in various fancy clothing, on a well-lit sidewalk was a peculiar sight. To the actual gang though, this was their final moment before diving into the maw of the beast.

"X.A.N.A., assuming its him, would recognize us and attack, we could be discovered for hacking into the list and arrested, I don't know, just keep cool. Once we're inside, split up but stay in visual range of each other, no talking about the mission, no suspicious behavior. That means you Odd." Jeremie took a deep breath, the tension in the air was obvious, "And do not blow the program unless we are attacked by means of an activated tower. If we get detained, arrested or something not related to a supercomputer, just go along with it. Remember, the objective is to find something that either links the company with the Schaffers, the Hoppers, Project Carthage or just Franz Hopper's technology. Remember, this is just a recon mission, don't try anything overly dangerous. If you find something, call Aelita or me over. Any questions?"

The five solemn faces looking at his, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, the best friends he could ask for. William, Jeremie didn't know him well, but he had changed from the hot head he used to be, he was ready and willing, one that Jeremie was glad to have at his side. Aelita, strong beautiful smart Aelita, Jeremie couldn't even begin how to describe her.

They were ready. Jeremie had a wild stray thought that he wouldn't want to charge though even hell with anybody else. They would prove, despite all odds, they were stronger after all…

* * *

"Toby Curtis, and this is my fiancé, Maya Light"

"Aren't you a little young to be a representative, Mr. Curtis?" asked the much taller, very imposing doorman as he inspected their guest passes.

"Not really, me and some friends just invested well in the market, and here we are."

"And are your 'friends' just as young as you?"

"As a matter of fact, they should be along shortly, so you be the judge of that."

"All right, what's the name of your corporation?"

There was a pause…

"Sissi inc."

"That's certainly an odd name." regarded the doorman.

"We do toys for infants and toddlers." Said Jeremie cooly

Aelita watched the whole exchange with baited breath, not even daring to speak or risk ruining whatever alibi Jeremie had planned. He certainly was talking a confident snobby voice, the voice of a successful businessman.

"You're on the list, and this is an authentic invitation. Welcome to Lupos, Mr. Curtis, Ms. Light." The bouncer motioned them in just as another group of suits walked up behind them.

They were in.

"Sissi Incorporated? Are you kidding me?" asked Aelita.

"Well I had to pick a name that the others would catch up on, in-case they were asked." answered Jeremie.

The room was enormous with a styled, artistic dome ceiling, fine food served on one side, a live orchestra on the other. At the very other side of the room, an elevated stage with multiple panels of flat screens on the wall behind it, all together showing one gigantic red X.A.N.A. eye. The fact that a huge crowd of people mulled below it, ignorant of how they were symbolically being watched from above by such an evil force, was quiet disturbing.

To Jeremie's relief, he found that with the vast amount of other guests here, quiet a few of them were also 'cultured'. He even spotted a group of foreign businessmen who Yumi could associate herself with if questions were asked. Of course, said Jeremie to himself, the stereotypical Japanese being ahead in technology just had to be here. He, Ulrich, and William however, would have no problems in a large crowd of stereotypical business tuxedos. What with Jeremie's dark blue suit, William's all black tux and Ulrich's button chest, bow tie, olive green short jacket. He didn't know the actual name of whatever Ulrich was wearing, but at least it wasn't as bizarre as Odd's.

Speaking of Odd, he finally joined the rest of them on the inside, Ulrich, Yumi and William having already gotten through. Merely nodding to each other, they moved out. Jeremie noticed Odd moving with slight urgency in the direction of the food tables.

Typical.

"Would you like to see the band up closer?" asked Jeremie to Aelita. It was an innocent question from a third person point of view, but both knew that they had to start looking without acting suspicious. Keeping a hold of her hand, he led her through the crowds of people, weaving in the general direction where the unfamiliar music was coming from.

* * *

Whew, I need to update sooner, yes? I just LOVE to pick on Odd, yes? I am getting enough reviews, yes? NO! Review dawg dang it, or I will make the next chapter have various characters ship the crack shipings! Like Odd x Aelita, COMPLEATE CRACK!!!! You will ruel the day you didn't review my story, MWHAHAHAHAEVILAUGHTERmmmmwwaaahhahah, yes, hmmm. 

I can tell you right now, next chapter, the action will start, the cliffies will appear in great untold numbers, the villian shall be revealed, and the unawnserd questions from the actual series, SHALL. BE. AWNSERED. epic thunder appeares magicly behind me.

RRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW1


	8. How The Party Crashes You

Chain of Memories

Chapter 8

How the Party Crashes You

Tempura, choice cuts of meats grounded and mixed with herbs, pastry desserts, exotic fruit, cakes, cakes and more cakes. Breads and cheeses of so many different varieties, and wine, champagne, and various other food items as far as the eye could see.

Odd Della Robbia was in heaven.

He had to exercise restraint though, for two reasons. One, because eating like he normally does might attract some un-wanted attention. Two, he liked his new purple suit, and didn't want to get any stains on it. He honestly didn't know why William and Jeremie thought it looked like a mafia Willy Wanka pedophile or something. Couldn't they tell he was trying to pull off the eccentric millionaire look that girls dug?

Look, don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, but don't eat. Eat, but binge. He sorely wanted to dive right into the entire table. But karma had a sense of humor, now he had to slowly eat like a civilized person…

Damn.

"Aren't you a little young to be wandering off from you parents, kid?" came a voice from behind him. Odd's temper perked up, he may be 'svelte', but nobody called him young because of it, and gets away with it.

"I am not young, I'm just svelte!" said Odd, turning around to address the offending speaking. Finally getting a good look at said speaker, he continued "and aren't you a little young yourself to be calling me a little boy, sweetheart?"

She seemed young at first glance, but Odd could see now, she was after all, very mature in many respects. Yet she had a small body. She was no older then he was probably, and about the same height. She had black hair, shorter then Yumi's but not as short as Aelita's, and had a single hair clip to keep her bangs out of her face. She wore a black sleeveless dress that hugged her body perfectly. Her face was youthful, a couple of freckles here and there, with peculiar green and turquoise eyes.

All around, she was pretty cute.

"Don't call me sweetheart, and I'm not young, I'm petite." was her response before turning away.

Odd only noticed the irony of what she said seconds later, by that time…

She was gone.

Minuets later, it happened.

* * *

In the middle of the elaborate tiled floor, in the midst of countless other couples doing the exact same thing, Yumi and Ulrich danced. The music from the orchestra was Jazz, or was it Blues? Ulrich didn't know the difference, nor did he care if there even was one. 

He, right now, was only concerned about Yumi, and her refusal to talk about William. Of course, here in the middle of a possible enemy's trap, being looked down upon by the eye of X.A.N.A. was hardly the place to discuss her feelings toward William. Especially when they were suppose to be investigating.

How odd, he thought for a strange, abstract second. All those years ago, and he would have wanted this, for Yumi and William to be fighting, for them to be angry at each other. But here he was, wondering if Yumi was taking it to far.

… Of course, didn't he say so himself, right to Williams face that he didn't want to see him near Yumi ever again?

He did, but that was William while he was possessed. Did he really feel that about the real William? Did he really hate him? Is it even right to hate William for something he didn't do, something X.A.N.A. did?

Yumi at least, it seems, didn't have any of the inner conflict about William that Ulrich did. To Ulrich, Yumi just flat out resented him.

"I can't believe she did that." Yumi said suddenly, mid step.

"What!?" Ulrich yelped, panicking. They couldn't talk about the mission, talk about any of their friends, anything could give them away! What was Yumi doing!?

"Maya" said Yumi quickly, realizing her slip-up. Fine, if they were in a technology unveiling, and if their alibi was that they were from fellow technology companies…

"Maya added West to our unit without asking anybody else." Said Yumi casually.

'Maya? West?' thought Ulrich, wasn't that the aliases of Aelita and William? Comprehension dawned on Ulrich.

"Oh, well," he began, "You heard what Maya said, this is her project." Ulrich gulped, the other couples were just dancing too close for comfort, and that eye of X.A.N.A. on the wall felt like it was stareing right at him. "She has to do everything she thinks she needs to do. I mean," Ulrich paused, searching for the right words. "The project is very important to her." He finished lamely.

Fortunately, Yumi seemed to understand.

Unfortunately, she didn't agree.

"But she's risking all of our jobs by having West with us!" exclaimed Yumi. Ulrich was fairly sure by jobs, Yumi meant lives.

"I mean after what happened before, he's still a liability." Said Yumi, now in a whisper voice after realizing how loud she was getting. "His envelope hasn't even changed."

Ulrich knew what she meant by that. Williams digital envelop, his outfit on Lyoko.

"Yumi, you know that Jer-" Ulrich stopped mid sentence, partly because he realized he just broke their cover, and partly because,

It happened.

* * *

Jeremie and Aelita were watching the band play. Jeremie had thought they were some sort of blue's group, and said so to Aelita. But she had corrected him, saying it was Jazz. 

What with her DJ-ing career, she defiantly had the authority on music out of the two of them. However, mixing music was the last thing on her mind now.

Spotting a door behind the bleachers that the band was standing on. Aelita took Jeremie's hand and started to lead him around. Jeremie stopped her however, and pointed out the black tuxedo suited security guards standing on either side of the door.

Great

Doubling back before said security could see them. They forged there way though the endless horde of people.

"Now what?" Aelita whispered to Jeremie, soft enough that only he could hear her.

Jeremie, standing on the tips of his toes, looked once around the room, making eye contact with a girl about his age with turquoise eyes, a velvet black dress and black hair with a clip in it.

Realizing she had been caught staring, she winked at him, smooched her lips once before turning around and disappearing through the crowd.

… Awkward…

Silently thankful that Aelita hadn't noticed his slightly red tinged cheeks, he finished his sweep, looked back at Aelita, swept the room again, then again…

…Then…

"I don't know."

Aelita wouldn't have expected any less of an answer from anybody else, but she at least half hoped Jeremie might think of something she hadn't.

"Any incriminating evidence around here would not be accessible by the party guests." explained Jeremie in a whisper, "so that means it, if any, would be deeper in the building. But its safe to assume that if that door was guarded; all the others will be also. The only other option is to try non-conventional entrances."

"Great… Just great" sighed Aelita.

"The only things I can think of now is leaving the building, and trying to enter either from the roof, or underground. But perhaps we should try and see if there is an air vent we could slip into, or…" Jeremie fell short, realization and excitement dawned on his face.

"If I could connect my laptop to one of those screens over there" whispered a excited Jeremie, hefting his thin laptop which Aelita knew was hidden in his suit jacket, pointing his finger at the screens displaying the malefic company logo, "I bet I could hack into the system, it wouldn't be nearly as well protected as that time I hacked it with the supercomputer because I would be syncing with its own programming and attacking it form the inside!"

"That's great Jer," said a skeptic Aelita, "But how are you going to do all that without being seen? That area looks pretty well exposed from here."

"We can't tell one hundred percent from here, we need to get closer."

Taking Aelita's hand, Jeremie started leading he though the crowd again, thankful that the volume from all the chatter probably made their conversation unheard.

The blond and pinkette never made it to the stage however, as a boy one year older then them came charging through the crowd and collided with Jeremie, trying to whisper, yet shouting hysterics at the blonde boys face.

Then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

William really… really…_hated_ this. In a simpler time before his life was shattered by X.A.N.A., before he lost all his friends, he would have probably enjoyed doing this. 

Playing secret agent in a fancy tuxedo and everything, knowing he had superpowers, a gigantic sword and everything a second away, on a dangerous mission into party full of beautiful young women in expensive attire.

But that William was gone, long dead, the moment Yumi cut off all connection from him. She still said hi, she still communicated like a human being after X.A.N.A. But any mention of anything related to Lyoko, and she would tense up, treat him as if he was still an enemy, a liability, or what ever she considered him to be now.

'Fuck' thought William passing a group of extravagant young looking females. 'I really, really, _really_ hate this.'

That eye, that eye at the end of the room, behind the stage. It was looking right at him, he was sure. He didn't recognize the eye, having the least amount of experience on Lyoko, or with X.A.N.A.'s attacks in the real world.

But it stirred something deep within him, a sense of wrongness, and a sense of rejection. His mind may not recognize it, but his body sure seemed to.

Realizing that, for some reason, he was walking towered it. He stopped and turned away to get his bearings. He must have been daydreaming for a while, he told himself, because he was actually fairly close to it.

"-Pink hair, and it wasn't dyed."

William's head jerked on its own accord, startled by the obvious reference to his biggest advocate, Aelita.

"She was with someone, a blonde kid, with glasses…Yes, I spotted the others individually, they split up."

Turning around, William spotted her, a rather petite girl with a sleeveless velvet black dress. Short black hair, but not as short as Aelita's. She was holding a touch screen phone to her ear. Had she not had her back turned to him, he would have seen the hair clip. Unknowing to him, it was the same girl spotted by Jeremie and Odd.

"Yeah… okay… I'll get out of here then, go ahead and launch it when I tell you."

Fortunately, her back was turned to him, and was unable to see Williams reaction, one what would have immediately given himself away as an associate of the enemy.

'Crap, crap, crap!' thought William backing away slowly before bursting out in a full blown run, squeezing his way through the crowd as fast as he could. They needed to get out of here _NOW! _Thankfully, he spotted Jeremie and Aelita making their way to the stage.

Grabbing the much smaller boy by his suits collar, "We need to get outta here, some girl, she was on her phone, something's about to happen, and we need to go _now_!!!" He bellowed over the party chatter.

The dazed blonde boy took much longer to respond to the news then William would have liked. His eyes finally widened with fear, while Aelita mumbled, "… oh no."

"Oh SHIT," screeched Jeremie, shoving William away, "Get Ulrich and Yumi, we'll get Odd, make it fast!"

They took off, but not soon enough.

The lights started to flicker on and off, the screens at the end of the room started getting snow, as if the dozens of T.V.'s had somehow gotten bad reception. The screens, one by one, were replaced with their own individual red eye of X.A.N.A.

"What the hell, is this some sort of publicity stunt?" asked a female next to Aelita. Similar inquiries were being made by the entire room, Jeremie, Aelita and William broke out into a full blown run.

Then, the specters came. Hundreds of them, pouring out of the Chandeliers, the electrical sockets along the walls, most out of the flat-screens displaying the eyes. The black masses of electrons swirled around the flickering room, purple discharges of electricity interconnecting them all like some sort of ethereal dance, before descending into the crowds. People fell in dozens as the black clouds entered their bodies.

* * *

"Specters!" screamed Yumi, tugging on Ulrichs arm. "We need to get the others!" 

"Already done!" said William, appearing behind them. Odd, Jeremie and Aelita running up next to him, "Lets get out of here!"

None of them got the chance to make it more then ten feet…

Every single person in the room, was now overshadowed, and was backing away from the, minuscule by comparison, group of six. Leaving them in their own lonely circle thirty feet wide.

Every single person was looking at them. Every single person was pixelating at random intervals. Every single person, was now their enemy.

This… was not good.

The tension rose, nobody moved, nobody breathed.

"Why aren't they attacking?" whispered Odd, crouching low, ready to blow the program.

"They're waiting for something." replied Jeremie, not even daring to breath any more then necessary.

Another impossibly long sixty seconds… then

_"SO,"_ a voice boomed out of nowhere. The flat panel screens at the end of the room changed again, from individual eyes, to individual pictures of a man's face. Then, collapsing together, the screens unified their imagines and created one gigantic image of the face.

Footsteps…

None of them could tell from this distance, but who ever was being displayed by the screens, had just walked out onto the stage.

They only assumed this because; the man on the screen had long, white hair, pale, gaunt skin, and malevolent green eyes. The man on the stage had the same shock of white hair.

"_The prodigal daughter comes home," _said the head on the screen, its magnified voice ringing throughout the vast room. _ "But of your many aliases, which would you liked to be called here, Aelita?" _He said Aelita's name delicately, pronouncing every syllable as if it were its own word.

"_Stones, Hopper, Schaffer, perhaps even Light?" _

* * *

DUN DUN DUN!!!! Enter Villain! How will they ever survive this? I promise from here on out, the action shall start, and won't stop for a while. What is the 'program' you ask, well I shall explain that first thing next chapter, I've been stalling on explaining that to you guysos for dramatic effect! GAWD! Please remember to drop a review. Oddles! 


	9. Tatical Retreat

Chain of Memories

Chapter 9

Tactical Retreat

Jeremie, to his credit, worked sleeplessly for two days to finish the program. It had been a long, long time since he had gone without sleep, and working on a new program, especially one such as this, brought back the old feelings of fighting X.A.N.A.

The idea was simple in many, if not all, respects. When his friends were scanned, the scanner literally 'scanned' them. It memorized every detail of how they looked when they were being virtualized. Jeremie saved this digital skin he created, and then combined it with a program that modified the translation forms.

Basically, his friends got dressed up fancy, and then they got virtualized. Then Jeremie, quickly throwing together a program to translate them onto earth without the Skid at the cost of individual activated towers, translated them, and then modified their appearance to that of what they looked like inside the scanner.

And all they had to do to cancel the program, if the need arouse, was to say, whisper, or shout the deactivation code. A code so random, so illogical, so silly, that nobody, even Odd, wouldn't somehow, accidentally say it and cancel the program, leavening themselves exposed in their rather attention attracting Lyoko outfits.

But, now was not the time to hide, no. Now was the time to fight, to defend, and to get the hell out of there!

"Kabillion." whispered Ulrich under his breath, after receiving a short, confirming nod from Jeremie. The effect was instantaneous. His entire body seemed to focus out, shimmering like a television with bad reception. Then, his body, or what seemed to be his body shattered into hundreds of digital pixels flying everywhere. Those pixels were in fact, only a surface layer. Ulrich drew his blades, now in his complete, translated, Lyoko form.

The others quickly followed suit, whispering, "Kabillion" under their breath. William materializing his sword in a long streak of sluggish smoke that solidified, not unlike how X.A.N.A's specters formed clones by solidifying from a base smoke form.

The only one who didn't transform was Jeremie, thus illustrating to everybody. Even the mysterious white haired man, that they had a weakness.

They could easily be devitalized, and return to the factory. But Jeremie… he could die, he would stay here…

This dawned on everybody else, prompting them to encircle Jeremie, moments before Jeremie realized it.

"Aw crap," he whispered. The combined mental guilt of not realizing this weakness in his plan before, and that _he_ was the weakness, crashed down unrelenting on Jeremie, causing his face to heat up and for him to stop thinking logically for precious seconds. He had probably just ruined the mission, and all because of his stubbornness to go with them!

The man on the other end of the room, the man on the screen, weighing his options, for one of them was obviously different from the rest

"_It appears," _he finally began, his voice booming in the vast room,_ "That you have abilities, ways of combating my possessed, Ms. Schaffer."_

"Who are you!?!" Aelita screamed over the horde of pixalateing heads, in the direction of the white haired man.

"Where's my mother!?!"

The face on the screen only broke out into a smile, showing all to perfect, bleached white teeth.

"_Of course, you wish to see her? After all these years, I suppose any child would." _The voice reverberated about the room once again._"Surrender yourself, and you shall be permitted to visit poor Antea."_

"…no" whispered Aelita.

"It's a trap." Jeremie stated calmly. But Aelita either didn't hear him or didn't care.

"You… you _do_ have her!!!" She shrieked.

William didn't like where this was going, not one bit. Craning his neck, he saw a door, behind the bleachers where the band had occupied before they were possessed. The horde of overshadowed partygoers, unfortunately, created an impressive barrier between the group and that door.

Leaning over to Jeremie, he whispered in to the blonde boys ear,

"Will we hurt the people who are being possessed, I mean, if I put my sword through one, will it kill them?" He asked hesitantly.

Startled a little, Jeremie whispered back, "No, the specters, they were powerful, the kind that reforms the possessed persons body."

William suddenly remembered a dream he once had of helping Ulrich and Yumi fight off a pack of their possessed classmates where their bodies reform…

… Only that, he now realized, wasn't a dream at all. It had been real, that had been X.A.N.A.

"WHERE IS SHE!?!?!" screamed Aelita, conjuring up 2 energy field orbs in her hands. Much like their name, they were basically stabilized fields of wild electricity.

The horde of possessed people tensed up, and began moving forward on unspoken orders, charging wild electricity in their hands.

Ulrich tensed, he brought up his swords to try and give some protection

Yumi drew her fans, One ready to cut down the ranks of pixalateing party guests, and one ready to deflect any electric discharge aimed at her, anybody to her left, right or Jeremie directly behind her.

Odd reloaded his magazine full of arrows, and crouched low. While it wasn't like reloading a gun with bullets, it was more like giving another unit of power to a direct energy weapon.

William, unable to tell the others what he was planning, and knowing he was the only one with an attack that could take out enough for his plan to work… attacked.

Focusing massive amounts of energy into his blade, he brought it back, and then swung it once in a wide arc. The discharged arc of energy was wide and low, and cut completely through the ranks of the horde in-between him, and the door.

The affect was instantaneous, the rest of the possessed, a vast majority indeed, raised their hands and discharged bolts of purple electricity at the group. Aelita brought her energy fields up, somehow drawing all the energy aimed at her into her electric orbs. Odd raised his shield, causing the streams of electricity to reflect and bounce in other directions. Ulrich and Yumi both used their weapons, much like Aelita, to attract the discharge of negative energy into their positively charged weapons.

"Super Smoke!" screamed William, and he broke apart, forming a bolt of black and purple digital particles that shot across the floor.

'Is he betraying us?' Yumi thought for a fleeting moment, holding the electricity discharge at bay.

William however, reformed himself in the middle of the mass of bodies currently pixalateing, also attempting to reform themselves. Multiple overshadowed victims, of both genders, broke off from either side of the horde, and tried to close the gap. William however, materialized his blade once again. Dodging left, he swung his blade completely around, and severed the female who tried to punch him cleanly in two. Her body joined the others on the ground that were currently trying to reform themselves. A male tried to get him from behind, but William jumped backward, and brought his blade down clean through his shoulder.

"GO!" shouted William, as he cut down another possessed guest. More still came, and William wasn't sure he could handle them all. He may have had a gigantic sword, but that was his only advantage against these multiple enemies. They were just as strong and fast as he was now; thanks to the specters overabundance of electrons fused into their atomic structure… or so said Jeremie.

The others didn't need to be told twice, running either sideways or back-wards, they all hastened to retreat. William moved sideways as they reached him, he only defending the right side, leavening Odd with the entire left side facing him. Wasting no time, he emptied his energy magazine of laser arrows into the specters, who had given up with electricity, and opted instead to straight out charge.

Finally reaching the door, Jeremie, glad to actually do something to help in the slightest, pushed it open, and held it as the others ran in. As soon as Ulrich and Yumi finally entered, he slammed it shut. Aelita quickly charged an energy field in her left, then her right hand, then slammed them each into the double doors, but not before multiple dents resembling fists bent the metal inward.

"They're magnetically sealed now." She explained briefly. "It won't stop them for long."

Finding themselves in some sort of concrete stairwell, they proceeded up at Jeremie's suggestion. These stairs were much grittier and dirty then the party room below them. Leading him to believe that it was a service staircase.

"If we can get to the roof," he said between huffs, "then I can get us out of here, all of us."

A crash echoing along the shaft told them that the possessed stock market investors had gotten past Aelita's magnetic doors. Sparing a glance down-wards, Jeremie saw the horde using inhuman jumps to rebound off the sides of the crisscrossing stairs.

"There it is!" shouted Odd as the group turned onto yet another lengths of stairs. Indeed, no more stairs and a single door that most likely lead to the roof.

The momentary distraction of finding the door was however, all the possessed women needed to land quietly behind them unnoticed. Odd however, whose giant ears weren't just for show, heard the slight buzz of wild electricity form behind the group.

"Get down!" He shouted, as he jumped around, aiming his fist. Reflexes from years of fighting X.A.N.A., and a slight fear that their flamboyant purple clad cat had finally gone crazy, enabled everybody behind Odd to drop in time to avoid the bolt of purple electricity vaguely resembling an arrow that whizzed past their head, hitting the possessed woman square in the chest, and causing her to tumble back down the stairs. A stain of purple electricity discharging random bolts from the point the arrow hit.

More took her place however, as Odd rushed up to get the door, William reformed his sword and charged back down the steps to the landing, Sending another arc of energy zooming down the next flight of stairs. Most avoided this arc though, and reached the landing William was on.

"I'll hold them off!" he shouted.

Hey, William didn't have a problem with close quarters fighting. Cutting and dodging, he even used some Pencak Silat, finding it was even more effective with the heightened strength and speed that being a specter allows.

A much more slender sword found it's way through a man that William was just about to decapitate, and Ulrich joined the fray. Neither of them exchanged words, partly because they couldn't and partly because no words needed to be said…

Both of the sword users dodged, blocked, spun and slash in an ethereal dance of martial arts, after-images, purple electric discharges and swords.

* * *

The bitterly cold, fresh night air never felt so wonderful in all of Jeremie's life. Almost losing his life and endangering his friends in a stuffy, heated environment makes you respect the cold that much more. 

They were on the roof now, and as Yumi pointed out, it was indeed a tall building. There was a generator off to one side, some ventilation shafts on the other. Wasting no time, Jeremie pulled out his laptop from its hiding place inside his coat jacket. Opening it up, he accessed his synchronization program.

"Com'on, com'on" he whispered impatiently as the horizontal bar slowly filled up.

"Lyoko connection, Established" the automated female voice greeted him.

Success! But now he needed to actually see if this could work, in theory it could… but there are so many things that could go wrong.

Wiping away raindrops that started to land on his screen, he vaguely realized it was starting to rain. Accessing the same program he used to directly translate his friends the first time around, he instead, inserted three non-human programs into the translator.

Minimizing that, he quickly brought up a global scanner, the same one he used to locate X.A.N.A. on the web, and his friends when they got translated. He zoomed in on France, then on the district they were in, then began searching. Immediately 5 baubles popped up, identifying them as registered digital programs belonging to Lyoko's supercomputer. Locking into Aelita's at random, he got her exact GPS location coordinates. Minimizing this, he entered the coordinates into his first window, and then activated the three necessary towers on Lyoko.

Holding his breath, he pressed enter, activating the program.

Immediately, a single red exclamation mark appeared on his screen. Quickly reading over the error, he deemed it acceptable, and proceeded.

Wild spurts of electricity randomly appeared next to Aelita, causing her to jump, and the Overboard, Overwing, and Overbike translated onto earth. Just as though they were one of the actual Lyoko warriors.

Yumi, and Odd, who were, contemplating how to climb down the side of the building seconds before, were effectively stunned for words.

Aelita however, simply stated, "You're a genius Jeremie"

"That purdy much sum's it up right there little missy." agreed Odd, who randomly spoke in a hill-billy voice for whatever reason, then proceeded to emphasize how much he missed his precious overboard.

Jeremie smiled, allowing his ego to be stroked, as he put in his headphone speaker piece.

* * *

"William! Ulrich!" The unmistakable voice of Jeremie came out of Williams left ear as he blocked another discharge of purple electricity. 

"Jeremie?" asked William confused, dodging a punch aimed for his head and cleaving the offending guest down her side. "Where are you?"

"Up on the roof, get up here asap, I got our way out." Responded Jeremie. There was a small click, and whatever communication program he must have used was terminated.

"Super-Sprint." Shouted Ulrich, who had gotten the same message. He shot up the two flights of stairs to the roof, leaving several after-images, not unlike the possessed party-goes, rather then his traditional yellow streak on Lyoko.

"Super-Smoke" shouted William, dissolved once again into a bolt of purple and black smoke. Unlike Ulrich, William opted to shoot straight up, then turned a sharp 90 degrees and out the door. Reforming into a human, he slammed the door shut before any specters could follow him out.

Noticing that in order to open it from this end, someone would have to pull the door open. He formed his sword, and with one fluid motion, sunk it deep into the concrete in front of the door. No sooner did he do so, then the door was almost thrown open by more overshadowed businessmen and women. The door however was blocked by the sword, and could not open enough to let even one specter pass through.

"Nice one" commented Jeremie from behind him.

Ulrich looked in awe at the materialized vehicles. "Ohhhhh no, Einstein, you didn't."

Walking over to his Overbike, he stroked the seat, then the handlebars, almost sensually. "Holy shit, you did."

"Thank me later." Said Jeremie hurriedly, eying the door where the specters were still trying to get through, "But there were a couple bugs, namely…"

He paused, almost looked uncertain.

"The Overbike's flight mode bugged up, you only have a about 20 seconds of hover time on this thing."

Ulrich almost grinned as he mounted up. Honestly, to have the option to fly almost made things seem _too_ easy. After all, he had always wanted to ride this thing on a freeway.

Odd wasted no time jumping on his Overboard, "Would the fair princess do me the honor of riding with me on my noble steed?" he asked, turning to Aelita.

"Sorry Odd" said Aelita, jogging to the edge of the roof. "It's been three years, I really need to stretch my wings." Waving her hand once around her star shaped wristband, a massive amount of electrons streamed out of her back, forming 2 identical stable electric energy fields.

She had pink ethereal angel wings.

Jeremie couldn't help but stare at Aelita, with her wings active, with the vast Paris city as a backdrop. He had never seen Aelita in her Lyoko form so well before, much less with her wings fully active. He may have designed the wings for her; he may have created her new equipment and form for her.

… But he had never known, she was so ethereally beautiful with it.

Alas it was not meant to last, as Jeremie was pulled back to Earth by Yumi shouting his name, then…

"-Riding with me."

Jeremie took one look at the Overwing with Yumi waiting on it…

"Wait… on that thing?"

"Do any of the others look any safer to you?" Asked Yumi, obviously reading his mind.

Jeremie looked once at Odd, then at Ulrich, he didn't even need to look at the actual vehicles to know they were unsafe, just their drivers. A rather large bang behind him made him turn around, revealing that the possessed horde had found another way onto the roof, through the ventilation shafts. Dozens of guests were pouring out, all headed in their direction.

"I see your point." said Jeremie, tucking his laptop back into its case and hoping on behind Yumi. "Just make sure we don't go to faaaAAAhhhhAAhhhSSTTT!!"

Jeremie couldn't help but scream a little and hold onto Yumi much tighter then he knew Ulrich would be comfortable with as the Overwing left the roof and plunged into the city of lights.

Odd flew off right behind them, taunting Jeremie about first time flying or something. William flew off as a bolt of smoke again, zipping off the building, but not before taking a few specters out with his sword first. Ulrich had to make use of the limited hover ability to get off the roof, the not so gentle landing illustrated the term 'hit the ground running' as he revved the engine, and took off down the street.

Aelita took one last forlorn look at the building, thinking this may have been her one chance to see her mother one last time. The possessed guests were almost on her when she jumped off the building. Folding her wings, she dived for a couple seconds before pulling up, and following her friends.

They had made it.

Or so they thought

* * *

They had been riding for fifteen minuets now, Ulrich weaved in and out of traffic, displaying a mastery of the Overbike that only came with years of fighting X.A.N.A., Up ahead, he could see his friends flying high, they could keep the air for all he cared. Down here, nobody could match the Overbike while he was riding it. He zipped past another motorcyclist in a small burst of speed… Well… small to him anyway, In earth terms, Ulrich had to put that at least at 70kmh. Looking behind him, he saw the poor cyclist staring after him, the helmet making his face unreadable. 

"Hahaahaha!" Ulrich stood up a little on the uno-wheeled motorcycle; this was the most fun he'd had in years! Nothing could stop him while he was on the streets with this Overbike, nothing at all! Not even Odd and his stup-

A flash, A boom, and Ulrich and his Overbike was reduced to nothing more then digital dust, and a creator in the middle of the road.

* * *

"… Ulrich just go struck by Lighting, didn't he?" asked Jeremie, looking back at the rapidly shrinking crater in the middle of Paris's streets. 

"What?!" asked Yumi bewildered, havening been focused on controlling the Overwing the whole time with the added load through the heavy rain."

"Looks like he really pissed off god some how" Odd laughed from his Overboard merely 20 feet away.

"A:" said Jeremie, "The humidity, the cloud shapes, the time of year, everything isn't right for an electrical storm."

"B:" he continued, "I don't believe in god, no evidence. That guy with the white hair must have activated another tower."

"Oh puh," said Odd sounding like he actually took offense. "You and your science, that's all you believe, isn't It Jer-" Odd was soundly cut off by another boom, Another flash, another Lyoko warrior down. Jeremie stared dazedly at the digital dust falling down to earth as they flew away.

"Evasive maneuvers?" Jeremie asked weakly

"Evasive maneuvers." confirmed Yumi. She jerked the handles left, sharply turning them a different direction. Looking back, he saw Aelita and the bolt of smoke he knew to be William start doing the same thing.

Another bolt of lighting forked down, obviously meant for them. But Yumi's zig zag pattern of flight seemed to be working. Lightning travels fast, but targeting programs can be a little slow.

Jeremie wildly wished they were somewhere near the Eiffel tower, one of the best ways to be safe from lighting was to be in a metal cage. The Eiffel tower was probably one the best places for them to be right now. Alas, that would imply luck was on their side, and as Jeremie saw the bolt of smoke formally known as William get zapped into just plain smoke, he knew to know better.

Another fork or lighting, this one too close… _too_ close. Yumi jerked too hard on the handles, and the Overwing turned over, prompting them both to plummet toward the ground.

"Jeremie, Yumi!" Aelita screamed out. Locking her wings and straightening her body as stiff as a board, she dove in an arc toward he falling friends.

The wind whipped around Jeremie's head, disheveling his hair and ripping his glasses from his face. His suit jacket and tie whipped about behind him. He felt like he was going to be sick, the force of gravity making him tumble around himself over and over and over again as he made his decent.

Another fork of lighting ripped out across the sky obliterated Yumi, Shattering her into a million pixels.

Not giving it another thought, Aelita continued to dive, dive for Jeremie. Jeremie saw her, turned himself around mid air and reached out for her.

'Closer' she thought.

'Closer!' the ground was become very focused behind Jeremie.

'CLOSER!' She reached out her arms, her fingers barely touching his.

_Closer_

His hand grasped hers in a firm grip. Wasting no time, acting on pure instinct, she snapped over her wings. They were still falling, but Aelita flapped once, twice, three times with all her might, her eyes scrunched tight in concentration.

Finally, she managed to stop their decent and they remained at a stable altitude…

She opened her eyes

… If one could call it an altitude… Jeremie's feet dangled no more then three feet off the ground.

"… Nice" was all he could get out.

Not seeing any more reason to even try and fly in the exposed sky, she set Jeremie down before landing herself. They were in some sort of ally, reminiscent of the ghetto of Paris that they were in mere hours ago. It was only made more miserable by the fact it was raining quite hard now.

"We need to get underground, somewhere where the lightning can't get-" she began. She never did finish telling Jeremie her plan. Four men, in stereotypical black tuxedos jumped from the roof above them. They landed themselves at each end of the ally, effectively blocking their way out.

They displayed no emotion, they were all identical, come to think of it also identical to the security guards, and the bouncer, and…

One flickered

'Polymorphic specters', realized Jeremie

Aelita started to conjure an energy field, but the specters each pulled out a desert eagle handgun and trained them all at her.

"Stand down," said the specters in unison. The same monotone distorted voice they heard X.A.N.A's victims talk like.

Aelita, to her credit, did no such thing. She moved herself in front of Jeremie. Holding the orbs defensively around herself and the boy.

The tense standoff seemed to last a lifetime, in the middle of a dark alleyway during a massive rain shower.

Finally, it broke, in the form of a fancy, expensive looking black car pulling up into the ally.

The back door opened, and the man with the long white hair, the man who claimed to have Antea Hopper, walked up to them.

The tense silence turned into an awkward silence as the man strolled past the specters like nothing was wrong what so ever with grown men point guns at teenagers. He bent down, due to his height, to look Aelita in the eyes.

After a short pause, he straightened back up.

"I can't use you in this form." He said in a mere whisper. He turned around and went over to one of the specters, relieving him of his gun.

"Use me for what? For what? Where's my mother? Where's Antea Hopper, where are you keeping her!?" Aelita would have gone on, if not for the gun suddenly pointed straight at her head.

"You want answers so badly?" he asked her, in nothing more then a husk whisper voice. "Come and get them."

The bullet pierced Aelita's head, right between her eyes. Her entire digitally generated energy field body destabilized from such a direct blow. Jeremie watched, as if in slow motion, Aelita fall back-wards. He tried to catch her, but by the time she reached his arms.

She was pixels and digital dust. Sparks just fluttering away into in-existence, hastened by the massive rainfall.

"So," whispered the man, now addressing the very much alone Jeremie, "It's Belpois, isn't it?"

* * *

Aelita hit the factory floor hard. She was back, back to flesh and blood, back to a light pink dress, back, almost a hundred kilometers away from Jeremie.

The others assembled in the room hastened to hoist her up. Carried her to the elevator, asking her what happened. Asking her, where was Jeremie?

She didn't know.

Where was her mommy?

She didn't know.

She only knew one thing

She was crying

* * *

My longest chapter yet. Also my most Action-packed. Tell me what you think? I stayed up pretty late working on this, so my sleep deprived mind screwed it up somehow I know. Please drop a review, be it if you just like it, hate it, or have constructive criticism. yawn I'm going to bed now. G'night Internet. 


	10. Believe In Your Dreams

Chain of Memories

Chapter 10

Believe In Your Dreams

Aelita woke first, having fallen asleep crying, long before the rest of them. She cracked open her still-irritated, bloodshot eyes. Wondering to herself how many times she should have to wake like this. She took in a deep breath, stretching and contracting her muscles in every part of her torso. She could the feel the stress of the past few days in the ache of her cramped abdominals.

Finally regaining the ability of sight after rubbing her eyes clean of 'crusties', as Odd called them, she found herself in the… factory of all places.

The events of the last few days, particularly last night, abruptly crashed down upon her.

They fell asleep at the factory that night, too weary and worried to try and find proper lodging. They couldn't go back to their dorms at Kadic, what with their disappearance. They would be discovered, and forced to deal with consequences of skipping school.

… then asked, where Jeremie was located. For Jeremie skipped with the rest of them, and would be expected back along with his friends, however, this was not the case.

Ulrich, Yumi, William and Odd had all fallen asleep much like Aelita had. Ulrich had fallen asleep sitting against the wall, Yumi lay on the floor not far from him. Odd was passed out with his head propped up against the holo-panel, snoring softly, while William fell asleep on the computer chair, with his feet propped up on the holo-panel and his fist supporting his face, while the armrest of the chair supported his elbow.

Aelita realized she was on a…_cot_ of all things, vaguely remembering that the same cot had, for a short period of time, belonged to Jim when he helped Jeremie materialize her for the first time. Her friends must have taken it down to the lab and propped her on it after she fell asleep, and then they must have fallen asleep soon after.

Bringing her heel, then the rest of her foot down in slow even steps that left merely a soft 'clank' on the factory floor, Aelita moved to the ladder, realizing the elevator would wake up her companions. Reaching the factory floor, she took the long way around to the steps; rather then climb the ropes to the upper level. She just didn't have the energy.

Not really having an intended destination, she stopped halfway across the factory bridge.

It was snowing, the first snow of the season. It must have been early morning, meaning she hadn't gotten that much sleep.

It wasn't a heavy snow, nor did it stick to the ground. Merely little white specks making a steady decent to their final destination, the moist, all-melting earth.

Leaning over the edge of the bridge, a gust of wind blew past and Aelita couldn't help but wish for clothes warmer than this stupid pink dress, wrinkled and dirty from being slept in such an un-kept environment. The water of the river flowed unusually fast, and had swelled just above its usual height. Aelita knew this because the streaks of dried algae usually visible on the side of the concrete walls of the artificial mote were submerged.

Random blotches of shiny, rainbow pollutants were an all too common sight speeding down the river, and the banks had begun go freeze over, framing the river with parallel streaks of slushy ice.

Snow that landed in the river merely ceased to exist, leaving nothing but a small, insignificant ripple as its legacy. Aelita turned away disgusted, but not exactly knowing at what. Looking at the sky, she found it to be the same dark and dreary gray it had always been recently, but the massive clouds moved closer, seemed even more unsatisfied. The ground below grew colder, and the heartless wind kept blowing.

It seemed everywhere she turned; she was cornered by the depressing state of the outside world. Every direction, but one…

She ran back into the factory

Maybe it was the harsh reality that Jeremie was such a long ways away, in the clutches of a new, mysterious enemy, which could kill him at any time he wanted, or the fact that her mother was also in the clutches of this freak. Or both.

Or was it the fact that both her mother, and Jeremie, gave her a first winter. Antea had been there at the winter house, she was taken away during Aelita's first winter, after she had played with Aelita in the snow, teaching her various tricks such as the giant snow ball, snow man, and Aelita's favorite, the snow angel.

Jeremie also had the opportunity to give Aelita her 'first winter' for it was when they all still thought she was merely an A.I. materialized. She remembered the snow fascinated her. She remembered herself being such an idiot, so naive, despite Jeremie's insistence that she was cute back then. Jeremie… had taught her the snowball, snow man and snow angel all over again, and she loved them…

Somewhere on her journey down the ropes, or the elevator, or the couple of yards in-between the two, she turned that depression, converted it, into something else without ever realizing it.

The elevator door opened, revealing her fathers laboratory to her. Yumi, Ulrich, William and Odd were already up standing in a loose conversation circle looking anxious. They must have been talking about herself, she thought, herself or Jeremie, as they stopped talking right as Aelita exited the elevator.

"Aelita! We were wond-" what ever Ulrich was about to say, was cut off by Aelita.

"We're going back," she said shortly. "We're going back to Paris."

Four Hours Ago

324 Kilometers away.

Paris, France

Jeremie was shoved roughly out of the car, into a dimly lit parking garage illuminated by sickly orange lights. He vaguely realized this was the same building the party was held in, the one he escaped from, or at least, tried too.

At least, his friends had gotten away… If getting devirtualized counted as getting away. The polymorphic specters that were leading him by his shoulders seemed to have orders not to squeeze too hard. Jeremie would be angry if he was treated roughly, but somehow, behind handled with care made him even angrier. He was still in his soaking wet suit, and had lost his glasses in the fall, leaving everything around him blurred. He started feeling a headache already.

The man with the white hair led the group through a door in the garage, into a sterile white hallway. The expanse seemed to go on forever, and the soft click – clack of the four sets of feet echoed down all the way.

Finally getting to a room, Jeremie was surprised to find the girl with the black hair, the girl that had smiled and winked at him during the party, sitting down at a square table smack-dab in the middle of the room. Like the hallway, it was white and sterile.

"Mr. Belpois," The man started, "Meet my daughter, Ell"

Ell tilted her head in acknowledgement.

"And I," whispered the man, "am Uolith, the chairman, or CEO of Lupos, you might say."

"Jeremie, Jeremie Belpois." responded Jeremie, trying to sound at least a little confident, yet Uolith seemed to see right past his ploy.

"I already know your name, Mr. Belpois." replied Uolith "I know everything there is to know about you and you little gaggle of adolescent accomplices. But that's not important right now."

"It isn't?" said Jeremie weakly, trying but failing to think of a way out of this mess.

"No," he whispered, "You see, the world," he stretched his arms out wide above his head. "Is sick, it needs healing."

Jeremie couldn't help but be a little thrown off, he was talking as if he was running a political campaign!

"I intend to do that healing, Mr. Belpois, but I can't do it without people, people like you, smart people who surely will understand my cause."

"What exactly is you 'cause'? Taking innocent mothers captive?" retorted Jeremie, "Possessing entire crowds of innocents just to get six teenagers?"

"Antea Hopper was far from innocent, Mr. Belpois, as you will soon see." Replied Uolith, "and I have relinquished control over my esteemed guests, they are currently enjoying my party oblivious to what I inflicted upon them. I'm not the 'bad guy', Mr. Belpois, I'm not the antagonist, I have a reason for everything I've done."

"So then, why did you kidnap Antea?" asked Jeremie. "If your not XANA, how do you know everything about us?! What's with Project Carthage?! And what do you want with Aelita so badly!?!"

Jeremie stopped, realizing he was at near shouting level.

Uolith merely looked amused, almost snorting at one point. Ell kept a pensive face, looking from her father to Jeremie.

"All in due time, Mr. Belpois, all in due time." Spoke Uolith in his soft voice. "I have my reasons. But for my overall goal to be complete, I need people, people like you Mr. Belpois, people who understand the big picture, people who can grasp the concept of a virtual universe. People who can write entire realties." He said this last sentense with such respect and power in his voice. As if uttering a word of apocalyptic magical power.

"I need you to be on my side Mr. Belpois." Stated Uolith evenly, "Name you price, and you may have it. I know you are attracted to the daughter of Antea, you may have her, all to yourself." Uolith smirked at that comment, "You want your friends to remain alive, and they shall. All you must do, is work for me."

Jeremie, looking back, would have stated that he did one of the worst possible things he could do in that situation. But between the soaking wet formal suit, the headache due to lack of glasses, the blurriness also due to lack of glasses, the hunger that began clawing at his insides, the violate ride, the sickening fall, the bone chilling wind of said ride and fall, how tired he was after such an excruciating long night, it wore Jeremie's common sense down, and his irritation up.

"Fuck. You."

Uolith merely sighed in disappointment. "That's truly a pity, Jeremie," said Uolith. Turning to address the polymorphic specters, "Relieve him of his laptop." he ordered.

'Crap' thought Jeremie, with his laptop; they would have a direct link to the supercomputer, to all files, even the files that were accessible only by him and not XANA such as the RTTP and the vehicles. He would have as much control as Jeremie normally did at the monitor station. Unless…

The specters were removing the computer notebook from Jeremie's side jacket pocket, but Jeremie latched on to it, trying to seem like he was desperately clinging onto it in a pathetic show of stupidity. The specter merely wrapped his hand around Jeremie's face and pushed him backwards, roughly into the chair.

The specter then set the laptop in front of Uolith, who then gave it to Ell, who proceeded to open it. Turning it on, she quickly found the file to access Lyoko.

"How amusing" She stated, talking for the first time.

"What is?" asked Uolith.

"He named it, his world, Lyoko." She replied.

"He did, did he?" whispered Uolith. "That stupid, stupid man."

Jeremie knew they were talking about Waldo Schaffer, but what about the name Lyoko was stupid, Jeremie did not know. He did, however, look at Ell expectedly.

"I can't get in.," said Ell finally. "I need an access code."

Jeremie smiled triumphantly at Uolith, he added in the activation code just in case it fell into the wrong hands, like theirs. Jeremie never used the activation code though, for he always put his laptop in sleep mode when it wasn't in use. When Jeremie clung to his laptop while the specter was taking it, he was in-fact pressing the power button, turning it off and resetting the system.

"How long until you can crack it?" asked Uolith, never taking his eyes off Jeremie's smirking face.

"Two days." Jeremie's smirk fell.

'Crap' he thought. 'crap, crap, crap, they have a supercomputer just like you do Jeremie, what did you expect?' he asked rhetorically.

"Well, I regret we cannot continue our chat until then Mr. Belpois." Said Uoltih in a semi aggravated, semi whisper voice. "I have already made the necessary accommodations for you, please, this gentlemen here will escort you to your room."

The specter in question opened the door to Jeremie's right, leading to another sterile white hallway. As Jeremie got up to leave for this 'accommodation', which Jeremie had, no doubt was merely a holding cell.

Uolith called after him,

"Please, Jeremie, with this time, please consider you place in this game of chess. Please reconsider your answer to my exclusive invitation."

Jeremie didn't even spare a sideways glance to Uolith; he already knew his 'final answer' wouldn't change. All he was concerned about now was getting to his little cell, and falling asleep. He barely noticed how correct he was in his assumption as he was led to a small, square, sterile white room with not other windows or doors.

As the door closed behind him with a resounding click, and a technical lock was activated. Jeremie striped himself of his soaking wet jacket and pants, undoing his tie and belt and flinging said items to a side of the room. Curling up in a corner of his white prison, he fell asleep. Cold, sick, wet and hungry.

* * *

Only Two days to stop the countdown to victory for Uolith. My first major Villian OC!!! I got lots of made-up stuff to fill up the CL plot holes, Like any of you nubs are going to believe it. I wanna thank all you freaks who decided to review this POS story, for I need moral support!!!... bitches!!!

Seriously, I love you guys. Cookie for the person who knows the song I used its Lyrics from in this chapter. (pen name also, freaking love that song.) Until next week, caio.


	11. Ignition

Chain of Memories

Chapter 11

Ignition

"How are we even going to get back to Paris? You can't just translate us straight there, can you?" asked Ulrich, looking over the shoulder of the chair.

Aelita really didn't want to deal with this right now, she was having frustrations of her own trying to understand what exactly was on the monitor, but she knew Ulrich had a point.

"I dunno," she answered distractedly. "This translation program only works in proximity of the supercomputer it originates from. I'm still having problems figuring out how it works."

It was true, she knew Jeremie's programming style, but Jeremie didn't have time to write his notes down for this program. Aelita helped him write the program yes, but merely the part that integrates it with the program that makes them look human.

"How about the vehicles?" asked Odd, "We could _fly_ back to Paris, and in style too!"

Aelita agreed, yes the vehicles would be an ideal solution, except…

"I have no idea what Jeremie did to translate the vehicles. I've already checked, as far as the log goes, he just accessed the program and materialized them in Lyoko, except… he didn't" she finished weakly

"I'm no Jeremie"

Ulrich and Odd, the only two in the computer lab at the moment pondered the transportation crisis in silence for the next couple minutes while Aelita continued to puzzle over the complex programs of Jeremie's legacy. Silence, not counting Odds quip about how much they needed a travel agent.

William and Yumi were sneaking back to their dorm and home respectively, replacing their party attire with more casual, practical clothes. They had to be very careful however, as illustrated by Aelita, that they don't be seen, otherwise they would be detained and punished for their disappearance.

Aelita had replaced her dress much earlier that morning, also stopping by Jeremie's dorm to pick up some disks she would need. Odd and Ulrich had yet to replace their cloths, which was really a shame, because Odd was becoming quite the eye sore in his 'eccentric-billionaire, chick magnet suit', as he called it. They planned for only Odd to go, for one was less likely to be caught then two.

Aelita raised an eyebrow, beginning to piece together exactly how to work the translation process. Apparently, the cynnisoidal components needed to be separated from the main envelop, then routed through the auxiliary back-up programs of the towers, then resyncronized using the main processor in the towers hub. The electrons recompiled into a basic energy field was simple enough, but the algorithms that dictated intelligence and reactions were truly the biggest input of data. The weapons and powers themselves required Jeremie to individually rewrite all the programs behind them, so they could work in translated forms, hence the minor differences she noticed in their use of powers in the real world. Her creativity, for example, was merely a powerful hacking application, and she didn't even realize it until she read this program. Their weapons were even trickier, composed of massive amounts of highly condensed energy in a quite stable field, they would have to be careful not to nick or scratch themselves with their own weapons, for they would prove especially effective on a specter, their disadvantage, and their advantage, since Lupos apparently favors specters as a fighting force.

Fun Stuff

"Aelita!" Aelita jumped what seemed to be ten feet in the air. Odd had shouted in her _ear_.

"Your hair take too much color out of your brain? HelloooooOOOoooo?"

"_Yes_, I'm here, what, what is it?!" she asked just as loud, not a little irritated.

"Well, Ulrich and me got to think'n" started Odd, "and we thought, why not just rent another bus or taxi to take us there? Ya know, like the first time." Ulrich nodded his head from behind Odd. "But then we thought, why not just use our old bus!! We still have like five days for his service, that driver dude, uhhh, what was his name?"

"Ron" answered Ulrich

"Ron" said Odd to Aelita.

"Because," started Aelita evenly, "I… I have no idea how to even begin to work the program that disguises us. The best I can get right now is the direct scanner-translation program. Sorry, but no 'human looks' this time round."

"I'm no Jeremie," repeated Aelita sadly.

Ulrich and Odd exchanged looks. Never really do know what you got till its gone…

"So what?" said Ulrich, almost angrily, "We don't have many options Aelita, this is probably the fastest way to get to Paris, but Ron would have to drive all the way back here first. We need to make a decision now!"

"So, what," asked Aelita sarcastically, "We let another human see our translated forms, and we're endangering the secrecy of my fathers supercomputer."

"Your fathers computer, or Jeremie?" asked Ulrich firmly. "We'll just have to knock him out and drive the bus ourselves, poor guy, but this is for the greater good."

Aelita sighed, knowing he won this argument. Lowering her head, she rubbed her temples with her fingers, fighting off an encroaching headache.

"Alright" she finally agreed. "But we're going to have to call the company again and ask them to send Ron back here. Only problem is, I didn't order the bus in the first place, Jeremie did. The company's number must be in his room somewhere"

"I'll get it!" volunteered Odd. "I need to grab our clothes anyway, It'll just take a second."

"Alright then, but wait for Yumi and William to get back first." Said Ulrich rubbing Odd's sorely messed up hair, which was still recovering from the grease down it had endured for the past day. "We don't want our little Mr. Wanka caught."

"It don't believe this, _It's an eccentric Billionaire suit made for picking up rich girls!_" Said Odd defensively. To his annoyance however, both Ulrich and Aelita burst out laughing.

* * *

Half and hour later, William returned dressed in his usual attire, not long after, Yumi came back, also in her normal attire, but also bringing an offering of homemade sandwiches. 

"Brunch time ladies!" she exclaimed addressing the group. "Turns out my parents weren't home, so I raided the kitchen and made us a meal."

"Yumi, I love you more then Ulrich ever could right now!" said Odd, eyeing the bundles of defenseless nutritional substance.

"You can have yours later, Odd." Said Aelita teasingly, "Right now, you have a job to do."

"What?" asked Odd indignantly, "That was before I knew there'd be food! That's not fair!"

"Don't worry Odd," reassured Ulrich, "We'll leave you a couple as incentive to get back."

As the group giggled about Odd's plight, he grudgingly made his way to the elevator and punched the button up, but not before making a few more complaints that were promptly shot down.

Making his way back to the dorms, he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to shield himself from the cold. The dark, dank, smelly sewer was somewhat warmer, but Odd decided he preferred the cold when he concluded what this warmth was due to.

Removing the sewer lid, he clamored up onto the dew filled grass in the middle of the forest. Silently as he could, he thanked god that Jim was teaching a class right now, a class he was supposed to be in, funny enough. Entering the dorms building unopposed, he quickly went to his room.

Quickly stripping, he pulled out his usual attire consisting of a purple hoodie and jeans from his drawer and dressed himself. Grabbing a jar of cheap gel from his drawer, he quickly applied it to his mistreated hair, attempting to reform it into the spike it has been for the past six years.

Grabbing a set of Ulrich's cloths from his drawer, and his favorite jacket from where it lay on the floor, Odd quietly closed the door and snuck down the hall to Jeremie's room with the clothes tucked under his arm. Opening Jeremie's thankfully unlocked door, Odd spotted the phone book Jeremie must have used to find the company, for it was open to a marked page. Scanning the page, Odd quickly spotted the particular company, which owned the bus that had transported them to Paris not a day ago. Copying down the number to a spare pad of paper, Odd ripped it off of its pad and stuffed it into his pocket.

As he closed the door to Jeremie's room. Odd was struck with a sudden urge to visit Kiwi in the girls' dorm. Before he left, he had gotten the infamous school journalists, Milly and Tamiya, to watch his beloved dog. Frankly, he sorta wished he had gotten better help. Alas, nobody else in the entire school had a better knack with animals. He didn't see any harm in checking in on his little diggity dog.

However, upon knocking on Milly and Tamiya's dorm room door, he was surprised to find his knock actually was answered. The door opened to reveal Tamiya, the camera-girl of the two.

"Odd! What are you doing here? Your back already?!" asked Tamiya worriedly, opening the door to expose Milly at a desk in the room.

'Crap' thought Odd, he'd been seen!

"Uhhh" started Odd, "I'm really not supposed to be here right now, so could you promise not to tell anybody?"

Of course, Odd realized after he said it, that these two journalists were the last two on campus likely to keep a secret. Besides, of course, the existence of Kiwi, which according to them, was due to a pure cuteness factor.

"I just uhhh," said Odd weakly "I just was worried about Kiwi, so I came to check on him." He looked around the room, "where, uhhh, is he?"

"Oh, Odd!" said Milly, who had joined them, and was beginning to cry, "We're so sorry, we're sorry"

"The thing is…" said Tamiya, a little more composed then her friend, "We were just playing some ball with Kiwi, and well… uhh…Jim walked in on us."

"What?!" shouted Odd, completely disregarding his personal stealth he was trying to maintain. "What did you tell him?"

"We tried to cover you up Odd, but Jim found the name on the collar." Said Milly through tears.

Angrily, Odd grabbed a hold of Milly's shoulders. "Where is he? Where is Jim keeping him?!" he shouted, unintentionally shaking her not-so-much smaller frame.

"H-he-e's-s i-in th-th-the f-f-fi-." Said Milly, through a torrent of guilty tears.

"Stop It!" shouted Tamiya, coming to her friend's aid. "They're keeping him in the fileing room until they can ship him to your parents!" she shouted, trying to wrench Odd's hands off of her best friend.

Odd let go of Milly, not even realizing how much he had hurt her shoulders through his anger. Picking up Ulrich's cloths, he shouted an apology to the both of them over his shoulder as he ran out of the building.

…The fileing room… It'd be impossible to get there this time of day… Or any time of day really, it was locked off.

Odd cast a longing glance at the office building where he now knew Kiwi to be. Sometime between now and when Aelita decided to virtualize and translate them again, and leave for Paris, he would have to rescue Kiwi… Or… Odd's eyes light up with a, to him, brilliant idea.

He would rescue Kiwi between the time he got his translated and they leave for Paris, only thing better then rescuing was rescuing in style, with a super hero costume to boot!

How his brash actions to come would affect the grand scale of things, Odd would never know. For now, he was concerned about Kiwi, the promised food, and to a more larger and yet farther extent, Jeremie.

* * *

Jeremie was still wet, was still miserable, still had a headache, and still was in captivity. 

But at least he wasn't beat tired anymore, nor hungry thanks to a specter delivering a, oddly enough, well balanced, nutrition breakfast. Stereotypically, prisoners were supposed to be fed poorly, were they not? Jeremie couldn't help but wonder once this Uolith realized he wasn't going to change sides, weather the meals would get worse.

Not that Jeremie was concerned with the long term… If he didn't get out of here in the short term, his laptop would be used to locate, and kill every one of his friends. Aelita would be captured and used for whatever Uolith wanted with her, and he would be stuck in here for the rest of his life.

Right now, Jeremie wasn't even considering the long-term option. He didn't even want to think it. He continually had to remind himself to banish those depressing, maddening thoughts, he had to keep his head if he wanted to get out of here.

Although, 'here' didn't present many options of how to get out, as far as he could tell, the room was entirely cubic, while the corners were flattened off. The door proved to be the only abnormality in the room. But it was completely metal, no way of accessing anything from this side of the door.

The whiteness, the cleanness also added another factor. Jeremie could see every streak of mud he had caused on the walls and remembered exactly how he had rubbed against it to make it so. His abandoned cloths off to the side had yet to be touched, as Jeremie had found this cell was well insolated. He already had wet sweat marks underneath his armpits on his all-white dress shirt. He had long ago unbuttoned the collar and cuffs, trying to give himself more air, but he was still hot.

A heavy click, and the technical lock, whatever it was, was deactivated, and the door swung open to reveal Ell and two polymorphic specters, also in the guise of security personnel, as were all the specters in Uolith's employ apparently.

"Get up" she said tersely.

Jeremie reluctantly complied; he briefly wondered what he must look like right now, frail, sick, leaning against one corner in a small room smudged with mud. A used tray off to one side, and muddy clothes off to another. Had he cared what she and others would think of him, he would have defiantly felt embarrassed. On the contrary, he almost liked giving this 'Ell' the thought that he was, what, dirty? Frail? Weak? That he didn't care? He wasn't even sure, he couldn't think straight ever since he had lost his glasses, and this massive headache was inflicted on him.

Ell led the way down the hall, with the two specters flanking Jeremie behind her. Jeremie almost considered asking her why she winked at him during the party, but then realized, this was not the time nor place to ask that. Instead, he asked,

"Why are you taking me out now, has my laptop been hacked already?"

"Heh", she giggled, "I don't even think that's possible," she looked over her shoulder at Jeremie, "you did one hell of a job encrypting."

'Did she just…_compliment _me?' wondered Jeremie, confused.

"But, I'm sorry to say, I was able to access some select programs." She answered.

"What programs, which ones?!" asked Jeremie desperately. Ell merely put a finger to her lips as they arrived to the end of the hall. She opened the door to reveal the same room Jeremie was in last night, the room where he had his laptop taken away. Uolith was there already, browsing through some sort of handheld touch screen device.

"Ah, Mr. Belpois! I trust you slept well." Asked Uoltih, turning to face Jeremie and putting away his device.

"Hardly" responded Jeremie seriously.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Said Uolith, obviously not meaning it, "because I have some things I'd like to talk to ask you about."

"And why, should I answer any of your questions?" asked Jeremie, truly believing this fruit-loop would never make him talk.

"Because, Mr. Belpois" stared Uolith slowly, "I'm sure, that you'd have things you would like to ask me. The only person left of Project Carthage, I know many things that, I have no doubt, you have been yearning to learn."

Jeremie paused, was this guy really being serious?

"And also," continued Uolith, "I have sent specters to your boarding school, Kadic academy. I'm sure you, no doubt, know people there that know nothing about your supercomputer antics. Should you wish for the innocents that you know to not be harmed, you will answer my questions."

Jeremie couldn't help but stare at the holo-panel that emerged from the tabletop, displaying Kadic academies structural prints, then a satellite image, then a listings of students and adults in its employment. He saw people, names he knew, and faces he knew. Miss. Hertz, Jim, Theo, Elizabeth, Nicolas, Herve, Tobias, Mr. Delmas, Yolanda, the list went on and on.

… But he couldn't…

…He just… couldn't…

"They're in your hands now, Mr. Belpois." Said Uolith, his expression unreadable.

* * *

Hiroki held Milly close as she cried into his arm, telling him about Kiwi and what Odd did to her between sobs. They had become quite close over the two years they'd been dating, and Hiroki was the first person she ran too after Odd left, well, the first person besides her teddy bear, which ironically was chewed up by Kiwi while he was still in their care. Hiroki did his best to comfort his girlfriend, boasting about how he would kick Odds scrawny ass, then go rescue Kiwi for her, making her feel slightly better. They were in the park at the moment, wanting privacy from the hustle and bustle of the lunch crowds… 

Not to far away, a power converter started to sparkle and fizz with wild electricity, and a black blob of smoke emerged. It spotted the two blips of heat, close enough to be considered one, yet it distinguished the separate heartbeats.

It began to solidify, and take shape.

* * *

HUZZAH, the action is unfolding, what will become of this new young couple?! Will Jeremie betray his friends and save the young lovers?!?!?! GAAHAHHHAHAH the tension, it keeeeells. 

Now, I got merely one review for last chapter, and that in UNACCEPTABLE, you btches better start giving me my moral support back, otherwise I'll feel lonely, and kill off Milly and Hiroki. That'll teach ya!... For any people out there cough LDcough who actually believes my bullsht, know now that. I am K-I-D-D-I-N-G.

Seriously, I could use some criticism to build muwa writing skillz on! Gimmi some dirt on myself!!!


	12. Let The Good Times Roll

Chain of Memories

Chapter 12

Let The Good Times Roll

The Specter solidified itself as the only thing it was programmed to imitate in this situation, a security guard, dressed in a rather plain black-and-white suit with a communication headphone wire in one ear, in the employ of Lupos corp. Retrieving it's desert eagle handgun from the inside of its jacket pocket, the specter calculated the possible trajectory and vectors of its bullets, creating an efficient scenario for the termination of its two targets.

There was only a mere dozen yards between it and the two young lovers, yards which the specter covered quickly. Moving from cover to cover with inhuman speed, it left a small streak of after-images, which quickly faded. Reaching the last tree before it would be visible to the targets, the specter took a mere millionth of a second to settle on which scenario was most effective, and brought up its handgun.

It stepped out, and pointed the gun at Hiroki and Milly.

* * *

Jeremie was petrified as he saw the specter moving through the forest. He couldn't make it out very well on the holo-sphere, where orange for some reason was the most prominent color, leavening little room for detail. But Jeremie was more then a hundred percent sure that the specter had targeted Milly and Yumi's younger brother. The specter's incoming and processing data was shown on a window, also in the holo-sphere. 

Uolith's glared at Jeremie through the holo-sphere, his face slightly distorted by the badly rendered pixels and shaded orange, revealing his gaunt features.

Jeremie noticed his face on the other side of the hologram, but kept his eyes focused on the image playing out, the specter was weaving through the trees at great speed, taking very direct path to the couple.

It stopped for the shortest of seconds behind a tree leading into the clearing, the data being displayed showed a large increase in output codes, and Jeremie understood every bit of it as it flew up the small holographic window.

It was going to kill them, one bullet for each of them, directly between their eyes. In the years to come, Jeremie would never forget the code that calculated 'the exact spot between the left and the right eye' as it passed over the screen.

… This was not good

* * *

Ron had yet to arrive. He had called them minuets ago announcing he was making the exit off the freeway, and was minuets away from Kadic. The poor guy was confused as hell when he was asked to return to Kadic where his employer some how returned to overnight without his aid. 

Aelita was starting to get impatient. Impatient and worried. Here they were, hiding at the edge of the forest looking onto the road, in their translated Lyoko forms. All five of them. As she shifted her pink laptop should-strap bag around, the only normal article she had on her person, she couldn't help but feel somewhat naked, despite the fact she was completely dressed. The same circumstances applied though, don't let people see the special features of your body. Being a super customized specter was just a different 'feature'.

She took a nervous glance around, and glimpsed Ulrich doing the same. Yumi was crouching low behind a bush, while William, who had super-smoked himself into the tree above them, watched the surroundings a bit more keenly then the rest of them, due to the fact that he blended better with the shady tree with his darker colored cloths, he could maneuver better and still not be spotted by any would-be nature hikers. Odd was… used to be in a tree.

Aelita did a quick head count, and found they were indeed missing the most noticeable head of all. Odd had disappeared…

… This was not good.

* * *

Being careful to evade the students running off to lunch and the teachers entering and leaving the building, Odd maneuvered his way behind the office building without being seen. Had he been able to sneak away sooner form the others, he would have been able to do this mission when the building was less populated. Alas, he never got a chance to sneak off after he got scanned and translated again, that is, until they snuck through the forest. 

It was no big deal, Odd assured himself. He would return with Kiwi, safe and sound, the others would forgive him, and he'd bring Kiwi on the trip to go save Jeremie! It was the perfect plan in Odd's mind.

Easily scaling the wall with his claws, Odd reached the third floor window, peering in, he deemed it not the infamous filing room, and moved horizontally along the buildings vertical surface. On the third window to the edge, Odd finally saw the welcoming sight of filing cabinets.

Odd pondered what to do now, he could always blast the window open with a Laser Arrow, but that would attract too much attention. He could punch it in, but that'd do the same thing essentially. He couldn't open it from the outside, so wha-

A sudden thought struck Odd, he'd seen it done in many movies, but would it actually work?

Odd without further adieu took one clawed hand to the window, and turned his hand, ever so slowly. The high-pitched whine of the glass being scratched reached his enlarged ears, causing him to flinch, but he endured. Completing his circle, he found that although he did make a ring shaped groove in the glass, he could not cut it open.

The whine of the cutting had apparently awoken Kiwi from a nap, for a sharp yapping, originating from the room in question, reached Odd's enlarged ears.

"Hang on Kiwi, I'ma coming for ya." Odd whispered, not wanting to talk overly loud in-case someone from below were to notice, and look up. 'I wonder if Kiwi will try and chase me for being a cat' wondered Odd for a brief moment.

Odd brought his claws up to cut the ring once more, then again, then a third time. Finally, he breached the thin glass, and ever so carefully, removed the miss-shaped circle from the window. He was rewarded with the yaps becoming distinctly louder and less muffled. Reaching in, he undid the latch from the inside, and pulled the window out. Hoisting his legs up, he shoved them through the window, then the rest of his body.

Not even taking time to reorient himself with solid ground. Odd rushed toward the small cage where the barking was originating on the other side of the room. Removing the latch, Kiwi bounded out of the cage in all his K-9 glory, ecstatic for being allowed freedom for what must have been hours of captivity.

"Kiwi!" shouted Odd overjoyed, "my wittle diggity dog!" Kiwi however scampered away as Odd tried to pick him up. Crouching low on the other side of the room, he growled at Odd.

"Is it really because I'm a cat?" asked Odd out loud, more to Kiwi them himself. "Come on Kiwi, its me! Odd!" Kiwi however, remained unwavering in his hostility, his growl deepened as Odd reached down to touch him.

"Come on." Said Odd, a little annoyed, "Its ME!" he held out his hand, remembering how dogs often needed to sniff it in order to gain its trust. Kiwi never even moved to sniff Odds hand. Odd, who was perplexed beyond belief at the situation, suddenly had a stroke of understanding.

He was in his translated form, nothing but a specter. He didn't have a scent anymore; he was merely ions stabilized into a field according to Jeremie. Kiwi somehow was able to tell the difference between a real human and a specter. 'What a smart dog!' though Odd proudly. However, this presented a bigger problem, how to gain Kiwi's trust?

"Kiwi, come on, its ME, Odd, Odd Della Robbia!" said Odd, hoping his voice was enough to help Kiwi recognize him. "Come on, diggity dog? Diggity wiggity triggity doggy?" pleaded Odd, using a longer, more affectionate nickname that was seldom used due to its length and creepiness.

Finally, Kiwi let down his guard and allowed himself to be pet. Only when he was scratched in the 'special spot' however, did he immediately recognize this mysterious non-human entity as his flamboyant provider of food.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay" said Odd, trying to silence the dogs excited barks. "Lets get you outta here, you're coming with me on a little trip."

Unfortunately, Odd didn't get even past the first hallway when a deep male voice reverberated behind him,

"Della Robbia!"

Odd winced, recognizing that voice anywhere, and with him in his Lyoko form…

… This was not good.

* * *

"You should get some dirty on Odd, write it up into a news article and publish it." said Hiroki, comforting a distressed Milly. "I can always ask my sister for some stuff, she and Odd hang out all the time." 

Milly had long ago ceased sobbing, and merely rested her head on Hiroki's shoulder with her eyes closed, letting him ramble, merely enjoying the sound of his voice. Giggling every so often when he made an exceptionally bold statement. He always could make her smile, no matter what.

"Your sweet." said Milly suddenly. Hiroki immediately stopped rambling, and the two shared a quiet, comfortable moment, leaning against each other.

…Alas, it was not meant to last…

The formal dressed man walked into the clearing as if he had done it millions of times before, abrupt and without pause. Bringing the gun in his hand up to eye level, he pointed the barrel directly at them.

A second passed, a second in which Hiroki attempted to comprehend that a man standing right in front of them, pointing a gun at them, meant that the man was trying to kill them.

"Milly! _RUN!!!_"

Milly was jostled out of her blissful state by Hiroki hastily trying to get up and hoist her up at the same time. She was jerked away from her position indignantly by Hiroki, and was about to protest, when she saw the man out of the corner of her eye. A man, point a gun at the spot where her head had been mere seconds ago. She too, needed a second to comprehend this, but Hiroki wouldn't let her. Pulling her out of the clearing, he proceeded to guide her through the forest at top speed. She numbly followed, processing the facts, and concluding the same thing Hiroki had, the obvious conclusion.

He was going to kill them.

She began to pick up speed, no longer needed to be lead by Hiroki. They raced through the forest, afraid for their lives.

... This was not good.

* * *

Jeremie watched in mute horror as the specter finished its codes, and entered the clearing, raising its hand gun. 

_"I'll do it!"_he roared, wrenching his eyes shut, for surely they were going to die. His strength, his will leaving him at the last second, unable to bear the possible deaths on his shoulders of the two younger lovers. If they died, all for something they were never involved in, then they could never love, could never had kids, could never grow old. That would just be… _too sad_. If they shared what Jeremie felt with Aelita, yes, it would just be too sad to bear.

"Good." whispered Uolith, "That's much more like it. The states have had many school shootings recently, you know. I feel like it should stay there."

"Your sick" spat Jeremie.

"Sticks and Stones, Mr. Belpois." replied Uolith mockingly. "But you'll find I have, indeed, not taken any of the lives of your peers. You may open your eyes to see for yourself."

Jeremie, not fully trusting the white haired psychopath, tentatively opened his eyes. Although his vision was still blurry from the lack of glasses, and the badly rendered holo-sphere, he was able to catch a glimpse of Milly and Hiroki run away into the forest, and off the edge of the holo-spheres range of vision. He exhaled a gigantic breath of relief he had un-knowingly taken in.

"Now, Mr. Belpois, tell me, how is Mr. Schaffer doing these days? I assume he's in good health." asked Uolith, folding his hands and starring intently at Jeremie.

"Your kidding, right?" asked Jeremie, disbelievingly. "Waldo Schaffer is dead, he sacrificed himself to power a program designed to wipe out X.A.N.A."

"ah." Uolith look truly startled by the news. He was, for once, at a loss for words. "I…I can't say," he began, "that I'm not sorry to hear that. Don't get me wrong, I despise that man, but we… he, he was a…" he seemed to search for the right word, but alas it seemed he couldn't. "… a fool, a bloody, fanatical, idiotic fool who dreamed of impossibilities." he finished.

"What was he like?" asked Jeremie, careful to sound friendly, for he didn't want Uolith to seem like he was giving the enemy information, on the contrary, merely satisfying a curiosity.

"He… he was brilliant, although it was a pity that Antea diluted her superior gene pool by pro-creating with the geek. He always had his stupid_faith _in things, faith in the world. He always saw the best of people, and things. He would build on that, believing the world would cure itself. He and I agreed on that, did you know? That the world was sick, that it needed healing. Of course," Uolith's gaze grew distant. "He was short sighted in things, always dreaming of a better place, a 'world without danger' as he called it. I believe he framed his world, Lyoko, after those ideals. Its ironic really, I doubt he ever really knew what the Lyoko means."

"Your talking about the eye of X.A.N.A.?" asked Jeremie, surprised.

"Is that what you call it?" asked Uolith amused, "well I can see where you derived that from. X.A.N.A., I know him all to well. The Lyoko, how ever, is a symbol with far greater meaning."

He stared at Jeremie, and Jeremie knew he was once again being regarded as the enemy.

"Suffice to say, the symbol loosely means rebirth, redemption, and reincarnation, for a world of purity, a world of kindness. Truly, a world without danger, as he so cleverly put it."

* * *

Milly and Hiroki charged blindly through the forest, tears of fright streaming the formers face. 

"_Help, somebody help us!_" shouted Hiroki, desperately trying to get back to the school.

* * *

Yumi, who was sick and tired of waiting for this stupid bus to arrive, was abruptly brought back to earth when she heard her _brother, _of all people, scream for help. 

"was that Hiroki?" asked Ulrich after a second.

"Sure was" said Yumi, "I'm going to go check it out."

"Wait, what if he sees you?" asked Aelita desperately. "I'm sorry, but keeping Lyoko secret is more important then Hiroki getting beaten up by bullies or whatever."

"You don't understand" said Yumi, "he never calls for help, not since I taught him Pencak Silat. I'm going to check this out" she said with determination.

"Fine" Aelita agreed, "but don't be too long, and see if you can find Odd on the way."

Yumi took of running, going surprisingly fast in her translated form. Catching up to her brother's shouts was easy, taking a mere half a minute.

"Yumi!" shouted Hiroki, while Milly collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. "There's this crazy man with a gun, he looked like Dr. Shrank's assistant, he tried to _kill_ us! We have to ge—what are you wearing?!"

It was almost comical how abruptly Hiroki switched from such a serious attitude to curiosity of his sisters outfit. Yumi herself was petrified for the whole ordeal, trying to process exactly how she was going to answer that question, and the statement that there was a guy trying to kill her brother.

As her sister-hood genes kicked in, and the fact she was more then capable then defending her brother with her abilities granted by her Lyoko form registered into her mind. Yumi took action.

"Never mind that, Where is this guy?" asked Yumi quickly, Hiroki merely responded by pointing behind him into the forest.

"Get Milly out of here." said Yumi, walking in the direction her brother had pointed.

"What are you _doing_?!" shouted Hiroki, dismayed.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"But, He has a _gun_!"

"I'll be _fine_" Yumi repeated. "Please, just trust me."

"You better not die Yumi, You better dam well not die" said Hiroki after a moment. He hoisted Milly up, putting one of her arms around his shoulder, and taking off once again to-wards the school.

Yumi would have laughed at it, for it was impossible for her to die, merely get devirtualized would be the worst case scenario.

Had her brother not said that last sentence with such feeling, with such love, she would have laughed, instead, she was touched.

She headed into the forest.

* * *

Drop a review, or I'll get Achmed the dead terrorist to Keeeeeeeeeel you.. Cookie if you know who that is. 

Let the good times roll indeed. Milly and Hiroki are my first 'real' fluff writing... kinda pathetic when I'm a JxA fan and yet to man to write fluff about them. Merely some pathetic really serious story where they are the main characters. .

Please, tell me how you liked/hated/orgasmed over it.


	13. Memoir of an Infinite Past and Future

Chain of Memories

Chapter 13

Memoir of an Infinite Past and Future

* * *

The specter hadn't moved an inch, not one inch. Sure, its electrons constantly moved at a highly accelerated pace, so technically, it _was_ moving. But it had received the cancellation command _just_ before it could execute the program. It remained in the clearing, stareing straight at a now-unoccupied spot of ground right in front of a tree, pointing its gun dead center at the vulnerable and innocent patch of earth.

Suddenly, new data entered its input programs, another specter was approaching, but its codes were nothing like its own, meaning it wasn't of the same network he was, making it a potential threat.

The newcomer entered the clearing, and the specters inner range optical scanner systems. The specter easily identified the newcomer program as a hostile one that has been encountered by peer programs in its network. The newcomers electron structure was much smaller then its own, given the fact that it was large by normal 'human' parameters. Program dictates that it must combat this newcommer, but with caution as they were located in a populated area. Program says that if a specter in the guise of someone employed at the networks facility, and if said specter displayed its extra-human parameter speed, balance, mobility, strength, electron discharge manipulation, and electrical field manipulation; the specter in question will be immediately terminated, requiring an extensive program inspection, pending deletion. The specters must also attempt to maintain their current manifested form as long as possible with as few glitches and extensive processing application open as possible, to prevent any deformation of the current structure, even for a second, and cause suspicion.

The incoming specter took much longer then program dictates to process its information, before engaging, prompting the first specter to enter a defensive mode. Oddly enough the specter attempted to communicate on a wavelength level… _verbally._

"You like guns big boy? Sorry, but I'm a Fan-girl myself." The poor attempt at humor, which would only have enacted a comical reaction out of Odd, was lost on the emotion-less specter as he effortlessly dodged Yumi's twin fans at the last second, leaving after images.

"Work at Lupos huh? How's the dental?" The specter's response was to bring its gun up in a quickly processed attempt to terminate the hostile program before they were witnessed. Firing four shots in quick succession, Yumi cartwheeled to the left, acting on sheer instinct, finding she could actually _dodge bullets _in her specter form. It made sense actually, if this guy could, why not her?

She threw one fan this time, keeping the other to block any incoming bullets.

* * *

"So the company logo, the eyes on tower platforms, X.A.N.A.," Jeremie asked disbelievingly, "they're all a religious symbol for world peace. Why haven't I seen this religion before, no matter how small, I should have found it a long time ago during my hunt for X.A.N.A. around the world network."

"Ah, you won't find it here" Uolith laughed humorously, "No one, absolutely no one knows of it, yet we were massive at our peak."

A specter came in; in the form a very cute, young female maid deposited a kettle of tea and three cups on the table next to the holo-map.

"Why's that?" asked Jeremie lightly, reaching for a cup, and allowing it to be poured by the maid. She was cute indeed, attractive even, but she always looked straight ahead. Jeremie felt like she was looking straight _through_ him, rather disturbing.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that right now, Mr. Belpois. When you join me perhaps, then I'll tell you." Said Uolith evenly, allowing his own tea to be poured by the same specter. "Answer one of my questions, and I shall answer a different one of yours."

"Fair enough." Agreed Jeremie, he didn't like it, but he could gain valuable information this way, and fleetingly, he decided he just wouldnve, world's" / 't answer any questions that directly put his friends in danger… Jeremie hoped at least, some of Uolith's questions were like that, ones that didn't threaten his friend's lives.

"Tell me, Mr. Belpois," Uolith began, " Mr. Schaffer's machine, his super-calculator if you will, does it exhibit a unique ability? One that might, oh say, manipulate time?" he finished lightly.

"The RTTP?" asked Jeremie. "Yeah, it has a program that allows us to reverse time up to forty eight hours. The _return to the past._"

"And nobody remembers?" continued Uolith, "But you do? The events that took place in those forty eight hours."

"Yes," said Jeremie, surprised he had managed to catch that, "Only people who have a virtual profile saved on the supercomputer are immune to the memory wipes."

"Deaths?" asked Uolith lightly, yet Jeremie could tell, he was genuinely intrigued.

"It doesn't work." Said Jeremie, just as lightly to match his tone. "The RTTP cannot revive someone."

Uolith's brow furrowed, "… wow" he mumbled lightly, more to himself then anybody else.

"That was three" stated Jeremie, "So now, I ask three."

Uolith smirked, leaning back in his chair and waving a hand lightly at Jeremie, "Shoot"

"How did you know about time reversals? You must have had some reason to suspect it."

"I knew," started Uolith, "Because I was innocently buying stock one day, and boom," He clapped his hands for emphasis, "I'm suddenly teleported back to the middle of a meeting I was holding with a fellow company yesterday. That was about six years ago, and since then, I've had to repeat many days at random. It became quite annoying actually. But then, I began to recognize things, things that happened over the news, things that can only be cause by a supercomputer. Catastrophes like a comet impacting the earth. The information network crashed, causing two trains with toxic chemicals to almost do the same. An epidemic, spread by addicting music! The list goes on, Mr. Belpois. I trust you are able to recognize what I'm saying."

Jeremie did, those were X.A.N.A. attacks! Uolith, all this time, was immune to the global scale RTTP's! Of course, Jeremie smiled inwardly, Uolith had let slip a piece of information. He was immune, meaning he had been scanned. Scanned by his own super computer no doubt. If there we functional scanners equipped to this super computer… it could mean any number of things!

"Alright, second question." Jeremie paused for a moment, trying to decide what to ask. Settling on something that had been bugging him for a long time.

"Why do you need Aelita? You said you needed her, but not in her virtual form. That means you want her in her organic form. Why?"

Uolith frowned, obviously troubled at being asked such an invasive question.

"If you must know…" stated Uolith. "Antea Hopper, beautiful, brilliant lady she was, was the head designer of the programming for our virtual worlds. She encoded all the programming that was ever created by us to her own specific D.N.A. so that she, and only she, could continue to work on the worlds from the inside, where it was much more accessible and easy to modify."

Jeremie could see it; Uolith was beginning to ramble again. A very human trait indeed. Out of the corner of Jeremie's eye, he saw Ell watching her father with a sideways glance. He had no doubt she too realized her father was rambling, but for some reason, made no move to stop him.

This was good…

Jeremie took a sip of tea, and almost burned his tongue.

"When I brought her to my facility, I virtualized her to remove her digital DNA codex so I could have this power over virtual worlds. She was rather mad at me at the time, you see, so she opted to fling herself into the digital sea. Really a shame."

'No…' Jeremie denied it, it couldn't…, he couldn't accept it. He didn't even know this woman, but she was so precious to Aelita, and Aelita in turn was to precious to him…

… It hurt…

…For whatever damn reason, it _hurt_…

"So, naturally, I need Ms. Stones' DNA to have any chance at all to gain access to the inner workings of a digital world. She bears her mother's DNA, as any blood child would."

He sipped his tea in a casual manner that didn't suit the conversation at all.

"Unfortunately, her father, Mr. Schaffer realized Ms. Hopper's sacrifice, and took it upon himself to protect their child. He fled, and eluded my searches for years and years, but I found him eventually"

The holo-sphere activated once again on its own accord, bringing forth a overhead view, a satellite image no doubt, of a very familiar building, The Hermitage. The back door opened, and a small pink blob of hair stepped out, followed by a larger, grayer blob of hair, Franz Hopper.

"Alas he slipped out of my fingers once again, taking that daughter of his with him. No doubt to that utopist virtual world of his"

Franz propped up what looked like a board against the door, then grabbed Aelita's hand and led her hurriedly to the sewer access door. Just as he closed the door behind him, two men in black suits broke through the door, pointing guns at the empty yard.

Uolith finished his long-winded speech as the holo-sphere deactivated once more. He gulped down the rest of his tea.

"Oh dear," he realized, pouring himself some more tea "I told you much more then I intended. Ah well, you would have found out anyway."

Jeremie sat stunned. Shakily, he sipped his now cooler tea to steady himself.

It was New England Breakfast tea, he noted.

Aelita could deactivate towers, was the _only_ one who could deactivate towers. It all made sense now. All of it. It was all for her DNA… her DNA, contained everything this man needed, for what ever it was he intended to do. Her DNA, was the reason her life was so screwed up. It was all because of her DNA!

Jeremie sighed, beating himself internally for not realizing it sooner. But in the back of his mind, he realized he couldn't have possibly known.

"Any more questions?" asked Uolith, pouring himself another cup from the kettle. Ell merely stared from one face to another, he tea untouched.

"…Yeah." Said Jeremie slowly. " Project Carthage, If you just a company, why did the government employ you for military research? Schaffer said in his notes that Carthage was a military project. He never said why he hated it so much as to try and destroy it, but he claimed it merely blocked enemy communication."

"That was the alibi." Said Uolith, "To get government funding. The French government desperately sought this technology during the cold war era. We had it, so we brought ourselves into the political fold. Of course we already had this technology, but we needed the funds to continue our own interests. We eventually gave them it, like a dog being given a scrap of meat after being tantalized by it for so long. While we had the entire cow, cooked and everything, you might say."

"Who's this we?" asked Jeremie, "Ell and you are the only ones here that aren't a specter from what I can tell."

"That is true Mr. Belpois, but that delves into what you asked before, I simply cannot tell you as of now." Uolith swirled his tea around for a moment in silence before continuing.

"I believe its my turn now, Mr. Belpois, Where is Waldo Schaffer's supercalculator located." Uolith's eyes locked onto Jeremie intently. His steely cold green eyes.

Jeremie couldn't, he absolutely could _not _answer that question, and he knew it. He knew that once he did, Uolith would send a specter to mess with it. That or find his friends.

"No" said Jeremie firmly. "You won't Answer my question. I won't answer yours." He met Uolith's steely green eyes with a hard gaze of his own.

"Fine" spat Uolith, clearly annoyed. "That boy, the one with the abnormally large sword who was with you at my unveiling. That was the same boy who was possessed by X.A.N.A., was he not?"

"Yeah…" said Jeremie slowly, not seeing any danger in revealing that tidbit. Suddenly, another question struck Jeremie.

"How do you know X.A.N.A.?" asked Jeremie, "You said you knew him 'all too well'. How?"

"Ahhh" whispered Uolith slowly, "I never actually met the poor creature no, but I did find a rather large fractured and heavily corrupted data envelope drifting through the Internet not that long ago. X.A.N.A.'s 'corpse' you might say. It had a whole wealth of information, answering many questions I had over the years, as well as a wealth of information about you six, but alas, it was heavily damaged and most of the logs were deleted. Hence why I need to ask you questions of clarification.

Jeremie sighed, at least that finally meant X.A.N.A. was truly dead.

Uolith poured the last bit of the kettle into his own cup, Jeremie never finished his, and Ell had yet to touch hers.

"Now, I have a question for you, Mr. Belpois." Uolith regarded him with utter seriousness once again.

"Why? Why did you five come here with Ms. Stones, why did you fight against X.A.N.A., from what I gather, he was quite dangerous, and there were numerous times where you could have shut him down by turning off the supercomputer. So why? Why get yourselves involved in something that doesn't even involve you? Something that's bigger then _any_ of you!" Uolith almost shouted the last part. He was obviously angry.

"Bigger then what? What are you talking about?" asked Jeremie in just as loud of a voice.

"You! You're… You're just a bunch of nobodies, some adolescent delinquent nobodies who think they can just stroll in and interfere with something they can't even comprehend. Something that runs deeper then any of them can fathom." Uolith had stood up now, and began pacing. Jeremie wondered if he suffered from a bi-polar disorder, for he was surreally calm up until now, and Ell was watching this like some mildly entertaining sit-com.

"_Try me" _shouted Jeremie over Uolith's tirade.

"You're an idiot, Mr. Belpois, a retarded twenty first century homo-sapien who can't possibly understand the complexity of the situation. Who believes that such glorious technology as the virtual worlds were actually conceived in such a primitive environment" Uolith said, bringing his voice down slightly but clearly addressing Jeremie.

"I just said, 'Try me', didn't I?" replied Jeremie.

"All right. If you insist Mr. Belpois." Uolith spat. "Picture this if you can, a wasteland. An eternal winter, craters, scars from an endless war of centuries past. Where A.I.'s who make X.A.N.A. look like cupcakes wander rampantly warring with each other. Where humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction because of our own stupidity and warmongering. We know not how exactly it started, but the Xanduoist, the last great faction of humanity, were determined to prevent it. We were brought together by Antea, beautiful, brilliant Antea Hopper. She created Xanduoism, a lie necessary for humanities survival. She blinded humanity with her faith and brought them together to build a machine, in the machine they wrote a world, in the world, they forged a tower. Not unlike a tower you're familiar with Mr. Belpois, But different, a tower of enormous proportions. A tower with such power, such potential. It was activated only once, and that was to bring Antea and her enlightened ones back in time, back millennia's of time to where it all began, where the Great War started, and when humanity began its spiral decent to extinction."

Jeremie…gawked at Uolith.

He was insane, that was the only way to put it. He was clinicly insane. There's no way… no physical way to bring someone back Millennia's! The RTTP was a triumph on its own, but something like that would have to be insanely powerful.

"I, was one of those enlightened ones, Mr. Belpois." Whispered Uolith. Reaching up, he pulled back his long white hair and revealed pointed, tapered ears.

"Evolution did a number on us over the years, you see. Natural pink hair would be nigh impossible to find in this century, but it's fairly common in the present."

'_his_' present, Jeremie reminded himself after a second of confusion.

"We established ourselves here as a business, employing ourselves to the French government for a trivial piece of technology. That's where Antea meet Mr. Schaffer, and eventual entrusted him with our true cause, our secret. We began to search, to wait. To find and prevent the great war however it may start. You see, my former ideology, the one written by Antea herself, was full of martyrism, of sacrificing your own life by changing to timeline so you never exist, creating a paradox you see."

Uolith drained the last bit of his tea and set the cup back on the tray. Ell did the same and Jeremie followed suit. Immediately the specter maid reformed herself out of black smoke and carried the tray away.

"Come with me." He motioned to Jeremie as he left the room, through a door in the wall at his back. Ell followed him immediately and Jeremie followed suit awkwardly. He found himself in yet another white hallway.

"Where are we going?" asked Jeremie, running slightly to catch up with Uolith

"I want your opinion on something." He said tersely.

Arriving at the end of the apparently not-endless hallway, Uolith flipped a control switch on the wall, and a concealed door slid open, revealing an elevator. He stepped inside of it, followed by Ell, then Jeremie.

Uolith pushed another button, the door's closed, and the elevator descended.

"I began to realize over time we were merely throwing the dice by merely intervening in the start of a war. We were playing chance." Whispered Uolith, starting blankly at the featureless white wall. "So many risky factors, so many possibilities, I concluded that the only way to assure a peace over the world for all time, was to take control of all factors of it. Thanks to our machine, with its still operable towers, we had the ability to do just that." Uolith sighed.

"When I presented this to my peers, I was deemed blasphemous, a heretic, an infidel and heathen. Only Antea, our oh so, 'holy prophet', defended me, yet still strongly disagreed. She thought I was trying to look in their best interests."

He smirked, Jeremie could tell because the side of his face that was visible to him contorted.

"I simply didn't want to wait around my whole life for something that could just as easily happen in another hundred or so years. So, one night, I took control of the machine, and possessed my fellow acolytes. Antea was immune to the possession, so she fled with the aid of Waldo Schaffer, who I assume she had fallen in love with by then. A pity, she would have made a lovely mistress."

The G-forces of the elevator were beginning to affect Jeremie, along with his headache due to his lack of glasses; he had a hard time comprehending what Uolith was saying. He _was_ insane!

"The rest, I assume you know. But let me fill you in on this last part."

Abruptly, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"X.A.N.A. was able to provide me with much more then damaged logs. He was a multi-agent system after all. I find his corpse still has its uses, even though it lacks a central intelligence."

The elevator doors revealed a gigantic room, technology was scattered everywhere doing various jobs. Florescent lighting from the extremely high ceiling made the place just a little too bright. At the very end of the room, were two mechanical towers, each possessing a symmetrical set of claws, enveloping a gigantic figure between the two towers.

Jeremie had never seen it before, but he had heard about it in vivid, and terrifying detail.

The Kolossus

* * *

Review Please D

ZOMG! I expected this chapter to be longer... huh... dunno what happened, ANYWAY. I've been dieing to write this stuff out. Man this story has been BUGGING me to be writen. ... yes, Jeremie is my favorite character, deal with it!

So, what do you think of the 'time travel' thing? Does it ruin it? Does it help it? I dunno, just my version of it. By the way, You'll be seeing more of this super-tower later... alot more of it!

Not much in the department of the other Lyoko warriors in this chapter, but I did include the start of the spector v Yumi fight. As my main plot is revealed. I shall attempt to delve into more action. Please tell me how badly I fail at that. (thats emo for: review numb nuts!)


	14. Beware of your Enemy

Chain of Memories

Chapter 14

Beware of your Enemy

The Kolossus stood at attention, yet seemed to be in a comatose state. The steel frame encasing it generated a sluggish light at symmetrical intervals, which seeped into the creature's volcanic skin. It's mandibles swung gently, stirred out of place by the strange light. It's cycloptic eye focused straight forward, and if possible, had the strange equivalent of a human eye being unfocused.

"The magma core and body structure were time consuming, useless and ineffective components that only required a more consistent power supply to maintain the proper faux temperature." Uolith sighed, wondering to a nearby console, one of many strewn across the hanger's floor, checking various readouts. "Another tribute to Mr. Schaffer's idiotic romanticism I guess… programmed even into his creation."

He paused, closing his eyes in thoughtful meditation, speaking more to himself then to Jeremie, "I hypothesize that is why your companions have an appearance that is so… unorthodox. Programmed directly into the molecular converters… a program that reads brain waves perhaps? The neurological structure of the brain, the psyche of a homo sapiens, easy to analyze I imagine."

"What do you have against your own species?" asked Jeremie suddenly, who still hadn't taken his eyes off the Kolossus.

"Oh, how novel." Uolith seemed to groan at this. "You believe that we can still be classified as the same species despite uncounted millennia of evolution, of 'survival of the fittest'? Did you not see my ears, Mr. Belpois? Do you not perceive the complexity of the technology in front of you?"

"This is genocide." Said Jeremie simply, turning to face Uolith. "You let the Kolossus loose here, in the middle of Paris… You'll have a holocaust on your hands."

"Genocide?!_ Holocaust_!!?" screamed Uolith, snapping himself to his full height and advancing at Jeremie, "My boy, I've seen more genocides then you've seen dust bunnies. I've had more people, friends, brothers, sisters, mothe-" he paused, before clearing his throat "Don't you dare, even try to dangle _Genocide_ in front of my face."

Uolith paused once again, taking several moments to compose himself, straightened his tie, then looked along with Jeremie upon the monster.

"Kolossus? Is that what you call it?" Uolith laughed "Fitting I must say, but Juvenal at best. It doesn't do justice to its complexity and power."

"But-"

"It took effort." Uolith started, ignoring Jeremie. "But what great achievements don't? It took a highly condensed program, one linking many, many towers together, for it takes a great deal of energy to create a solidified specter of such magnitude."

"Thousands, tens of thousands of innocent people could die!" Jeremie pleaded, quickly searching his memory for Paris' population. "This has nothing to do with them!"

"Of course, the codes and everything were all right there for the taking; otherwise it would have taken me a decade longer to finish coding my own creation."

"You've been planning this!?" asked Jeremie incredulously, "I thought you only wanted Aelita's DNA! Why even do this!? Is this what you meant by 'controlling all the factors? _World domination_?!"Jeremie paused, recalling something Uolith once said himself, "Why bring more death to an already sick world?"

Uolith didn't speak for several moments, merely gazing at the Kolossus, finding it harder to ignore Jeremie's previous statement.

"It's not only Paris." He began once again. "Every major city, every major populated area of the world has a Lupos corporation facility in it to some extent. Each and every one of those facilities has a 'Kolossus', as you put it, being finalized as we speak. Naturally, each facility has its own supercomputer hosting its own simple virtual universe. Universes that have hundreds of towers crowded together."

"Not only that, but XANA's legacy itself proved useful, for I found it had a veritable legion of robotic organisms that are all but ready for deployment and invasion. Just waiting for somebody with the right coding to tell them what to do."

He swept a sideways glance at Jeremie. "Did you ever realize that? Had you not prevailed over XANA when you did, merely a day later, it would have launched it's war on humanity?"

"We had our hints." Said Jeremie blandly, "But I never knew we were so pressed for time."

"I feel as though Mr. Schaffer knew of the immediate danger, I hypothesize that is why he so willingly sacrificed himself when there were so many other possibilities, ones that took time of course."

Uolith sighed, before moping his bow with a pure white handkerchief.

"XANA knew what it was doing, even after it's deletion. Programs that kept government's from dispatching agents to assess the laboratory by modifying agendas at military agencies were still active." Uolith smiled. "Meaning nobody, even after three years, has discovered the army of their undoing, which was right under their noses the whole time."

"And you are going to use them as well?" asked Jeremie more calmly, realizing he couldn't get Uolith to change his mind by simply yelling at him.

"Naturally. However, I cannot. For two reasons, one being I cannot control any of the robots, the Kolossus, anything of XANA's until I have his memory core."

Uolith turned around, indicating Jeremie to follow him back to the elevator.

"I thought you said you had his memories." Said Jeremie confused.

"Ah, but did you really expect XANA to just simply die? To not try and save himself first?" asked Uolith, tauntingly. "XANA copied his core algorithms, the very codes that dictates what decision it, itself would make if given a problem. It's _mind_ if you will. It copied its mind, and implanted it in the only place that would possibly survive, the only thing of XANA's that you and your friends would not 'terminate'."

"William" said Jeremie simply, but dreading what it meant.

"Exactly." Said Uolith smugly. He, Jeremie and Ell were all back in the elevator, which was now ascending. The periodic black and white streak on the interior signifying a floor being passed by, giving Jeremie an inking of the proportions of the facility.

"The second reason, and the more annoying, is Ms. Hopper herself."

"But, she fell into the digital sea!" said Jeremie alarmed.

"Yes, yes, I don't know how. But she returned, in the form of an illuminated pulsating orb. I know not how she evolved her form to survive in the digital sea, but she did. Her DNA codex was encrypted, thus useless to me."

Jeremie recognized the description, what ever Antea had become, she was the same as Franz Hopper had been three years ago when he sacrificed himself. A glowing pulsing sphere. The elevator slowed its accent. Then finally opened its doors to reveal the bland white hallway. Uolith sighed as he stepped out.

"She was still adamantly against my cause, you see. She took it upon herself apparently to stop me anyway she could. The annoying bitch took residence in the Idexicon tower in the original machine, blocking me from it. The same, impossibly powerful tower that brought us to your time period. I want that tower, and I want Antea Hopper for myself." Said Uolith shamelessly.

Uolith couldn't see it, but Jeremie, who was between the two, caught sight of Ell narrowing her eyes slightly and her jaw clenching.

* * *

Odd Della Robbia had been accused of lacking intelligence for most of his stay at Kadic, but he had always held fast to his self-confidence. Assuring himself he didn't need to be a no fun 'braniac'. But now, he was assuring himself to be an idiot, a moron and wondering why he didn't use the window to make his grand escape with Kiwi. 

Jim Morales didn't look happy, a little surprised by Odd's appearance no doubt, but not happy.

"What do you think your doing, Della Robbia?' asked Jim.

"Uhhhhhh" said Odd, trying to conceive a valid excuse for the dog, and his Lyoko translated form.

"Let me guess, you and your little friends skipped school for the past couple of days to go cosplay?" asked Jim blandly

"How do you know what cosplaying is?" asked Odd surprised.

Jim gave Odd a stern look

"I'd rather not talk about that right now. I'd rather talk about that little mutt your holding, Della Robbia. That little mutt and how your going to get _suspended _for trying to not only keep it here, but trying to steal it back!"

'Crap' thought Odd, he couldn't stay here! The bus was sure to be here and Aelita would scream at him with no end for holding them up.

"Jim, Jimbo, Jimmy, please listen, hear me out fellow man." Odd began, his voice full of false sincerity. He took a couple steps toward Jim, making himself level with the open door leading back to the filing room to his right. Jim paused, allowing Odd to talk.

"…If I'm suspended…" he began, already lining up a joke.

"… See ya next fall!" shouted Odd as he bolted into the filing room. One hand held Kiwi protectively to his side, while Odd extended the other, firing a single laser arrow at the window. The already mangled window shattered into thousands of pieces, allowing Odd enough space to jump through. Even with a loudly protesting Kiwi wriggling in one arm, Odd landed on both his feet and free hand, proving the old proverb about cats true.

As Odd ran off into the forest, he could only imagine Jim's amazement. Odd realized he probably made the situation worse, no doubt. But he could always just blame the urgency to find Jeremie when accused by his friends.

He took the long way, avoiding the populated roads at all cost, making his way back to the spot where Aelita and the others were supposed to be. On the way however, his cat ears detected something to his right. Gunshots, as well as a buzzing saw noise… along with familiar grunts and groans.

Yumi.

* * *

Yumi… wasn't doing so well. She, and her opponent were deadlocked in the fight, nether side landing any solid hits. The suave specter continued to dodge Yumi's fans, while she in turn continued to use her gymnastics to dodge its bullets. It wasn't a standstill deadlock however, as it was a battle of evasion more then anything else. Yumi realized this early on, and began leading the specter, abet slowly, to the area she knew her friends to be. The specter, which showed no signs of the realization of the pointlessness of its strategy, continued to fire bullets and dodge with mechanically perfected poise. 

Finally, after a series of back flips, Yumi landed on the solid pavement of the entrance road going through the forest. Spending the last couple of seconds before the specter caught up to assess her surroundings. Yumi found she had estimated incorrectly. She was nowhere near where her friends were. She was in front of the cafeteria! Students who were leaving breakfast and heading of to first period had already noticed her!

'crap' thought Yumi.

In the seconds it took Yumi to process the realization that she had been seen in her translated form, the specter emerged from the foliage behind her. It fired three rapid shots at Yumi, all of which she dodged as soon as she registered the sound waves coming behind her were that of a gunshot. She lightly noted her advanced information processing speed and reflexes in her translated form as she landed off to the side of the specter.

The students who were watching began screaming and entered the buildings. Teachers began ordering an entire school lock down and the police were being called. Yumi needed to finish this and finish it fast!

The specter once again dodged Yumi's fan, then dodged her second barrage, then her third, fourth, and finally fifth successive attack, after images trailing him in every movement.

Yumi started to realize that this very well may be pointless, that she would have to try and find a new strategy… but had none. The polymorphic specter advanced on her, raised its gun… and got blasted in it's side.

The force of the blow caused the specter to contort its body to an amount that no human could achieve, its torso crippling sideways from the purple bolt that hit its right hip. It bounced once, and then landed, close to the school.

"_Banzai!!!"_ shouted the resident giant purple cat as he sprung from the foliage, one are still wrapped around Kiwi, the other held out, aiming at the specter.

"Where have you_ been_?!" shouted Yumi.

"Oh, out and about, girls dig giant purple cats you know," joked Odd, "I got numbers." He sang off-key.

"While I've been out here fighting this whole time?! You little twerp!"

"Oh puh! You're being ungrateful to your savior!" Odd shouted back playfully.

"Savior? You only got him because he was focused on me!" shouted Yumi indignantly.

"Don't you watch cartoons?" asked Odd "The handsome hero always jumps in at the last moment when the villain is focused on the defenseless girl."

"_Defenseless girl_?!" screamed Yumi. She would have gone on, but the specter had gotten up, its hip still pixleating badly.

"You aim high, I aim low" said Yumi slowly.

"Gottcha."

The specter didn't even have time to raise its gun before it had to swing itself around to avoid the barrage of purple arrow shaped electric bolts that began attempting to discharge themselves onto it. Seeing two incoming projectiles aiming at its legs, it jumped into the air to avoid them. Only too late did it process it couldn't dodge nearly as well in the air, a fact proven by the six or so laser arrows the hit its chest. The points where the arrows hit became the epicenters of small discharges of wild purple electricity all over hits body. He landed on his feet, but extremely damaged. It had just finished concluding that the best choice of action would be to retreat when it was cut open by Yumi's fans making their way back to their owner.

The holes the fans made in its torso didn't regenerate themselves, rather they glowed an eerie pinkish red as they _tried_ regenerate. The same color as Yumi's fans. The specter unfocused, dissolving into smoke and pixels.

"Yes!" shouted Odd "Odd the magnificent strikes again! No specter is safe while _this_ cat on the prowl!"

"Odd, Shut Up" said Yumi, giggling at his antics. "We need to get out Kadic right now, the police are on their way."

"Awww, you got seen too?" said Odd despairingly, "Aelita's going to kill us."

"She'll forgive us both if we save Jeremie, lets _go_." Pleaded Yumi, already running back up the paved road. Odd following suit still clutching his dog.

* * *

"That is why I need her daughters DNA, to use it to restore Ms. Hopper and devitalize her. Whether she wants it or not." 

Jeremie hesitated. Uolith wanted the same thing he did… at least in this respect.

"Not only that, I will finally have the ability to use the Indexicon Tower, previously only accessible by Ms. Hopper herself. From that tower, I, and I alone, can wield the armies of XANA, and destroy any forms of organized resistance at the same time. I don't risk launching it through individual towers. Because sooner or later, a random program will gain self-awareness." Uolith almost let loose a childlike giggle as he opened the door back into the room with the holo-sphere.

"That wouldn't be beneficial to me, you or anybody else. A singular flaw in our technology, if any, would be how easy it is for programs to achieve self-awareness. XANA was just one of the more powerful ones."

Jeremie weighed his options; he couldn't do much from this position, for Uolith's specters were everywhere. Assuming all Uolith had said was true, Jeremie needed to act, and act fast, before Uolith could get a-hold of Aelita… and William! But what if all he had said, _wasn't true_?

"Why?" asked Jeremie "Why are you telling me all this."

Uolith sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time, "Three reasons, I shouldn't need to explain this, Mr. Belpois. You may be homo-sapient, but I still would want you to work for me. Creatures like you deserve better then to be wiped out in senseless conflict." Suddenly, the glare, the steeled malicious intent that had afflicted him before in the same room returned.

"And because, I want to know why." He began pacing once again. "Aelita Schaffer, Hopper, Stones! It doesn't matter; half of her blood belongs to me, and my cause!"

"Everything, and I mean every factor, every conceivable possibility; every possible scenario concluded that I would be the victor. Then, out of the void, five more adolescence nobodies, whom have no idea what they are getting themselves into, throw their lives on the line for this one girl, this one helpless half-breed who doesn't even know them! Effectively complicating the situation endlessly for me"

"I take it the future was too bleak for the concept of 'helping a friend' to still exist." said Jeremie icily.

"Don't patronize me Mr. Belpois." Said Uolith dangerously. "You have no idea what you're talking about"

"Then let me enlighten you, Uolith." Said Jeremie coldly, addressing him by name for the first time. "Us nobodies, we're Aelita's friends. We're her _family_ now. Because of you! You and your 'cause' Aelita suffered more then she ever deserved!"

Uolith seemed to process this, glaring at Jeremie the whole time, before finally responding.

"Half-breeds, abominations like her, deserve all they get, Mr. Belpois."

Two specters, once again in the guise of secret service security personal, entered the room from the mysterious fourth door on un-spoken orders. They walked around the table so that they were directly behind Jeremie.

"Thirdly, as I stated before, I also want your opinion on my work. I always wanted Mr. Schaffer's opinion, but since he choose suicide; I'll take the next best thing, his protégé." Uolith sat down, finally ending his pacing.

"Besides what I've already told you about it? Besides the fact that is sick, wrong and_ evil_?" asked Jeremie sarcastically, emphasizing evil."

"Is that all you have to say?" asked Uolith lightly.

"…yes" said Jeremie finally, realizing this man only wanted Jeremie's admittance that it was some sort of intelligent plan, to affirm his own superiority for some reason.

"Is that so?" Uolith sighed. The specter grabbed Jeremie by his shoulders and began leading him to the door behind where he had sat. One of the specters had already opened the door for him when Uolith called from behind.

"You're alike in so many ways." Jeremie turned around, slightly curious to what the psychopath was saying now.

"How so?" asked Jeremie.

"It's just the small things, I guess. But your opinions, your appearance, your attitude towards my cause. It's almost unnerving how many similarities there are."

"Franz Hopper was a genius, a good man who sacrificed himself to save the world." said Jeremie softly. "I'm just some nobody who figured out how to work the supercomputer through trial and error."

"Ah, but remember. Mr. Schaffer only knew of our technology because of his wife. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the short amount of time together, she shared all the secrets with him of building a supercomputer with the intention of stopping me together." Uolith took out his handheld touch screen device from his pocket, silently noting how the specter on the school grounds of Kadic had been engaged.

"So you see, in a way, you both are fakes."

"Thanks." Said Jeremie sarcastically. Before leaving the room on his own accord, the specter jailers following him.

Uolith turned his attention to the specter, which had just been neutralized by its enemy, an enemy identified, as one the network had seen before, not but last night.

Without hesitation, he began programming more specters.

* * *

Whew... Now that the useless plot crap is outta the way. I'm moving more into action. The promised plot! please review!!! 

I wanna thank all my faithful reviewers, ya'll have givin me my moral support to continue this story.


	15. Fight and Flight

Chain of Memories

* * *

Ello Unwashed Masses, before we begin this segment of '_Chain of Memories_ ®' I'd Like to try something new. See, I got most of my ideas for writing this story by listening to music. But I feel as though without the music theme, my stories just… a story. SO, Starting from this chapter, my fan fiction will have its own soundtrack!

I shall name one song per-chapter, and if you the reader want to, you can listen to the song before, during, or after reading the chapter to understand the 'beat' of the story, the mood. Remember, this music is my muse!

The song for this chapter is

Session, By Linkin Park

I've already become a much better author in my time with '_Chain of Memories_ ®', looking back, I cannot help to cringe at my juvenile mistakes and poor writing ability in my first few chapters. Therefore, I am re-editing all of them.

* * *

Chapter 15

Fight and Flight

Ron pulled the bus up onto the curb. Setting the engine on idle, he sat up, and promptly rubbed his ass. Long drives like this were always murder on it. Of course, he only did this because he was in the privacy of his bus.

Opening the door, he stepped out of the bus and onto the paved road that made the driveway entrance to Kadic Academy. Ron remembered Kadic from his own high school days, a school that was spoken in high regard, a school where the exceptionally bright children of his grade were transferred. He remembered his amazingly smart, popular, former girlfriend Susan Hurtz, and how she had been accepted to this school. She had broken up with him soon after, as such a long distance relationship was not as feasible. His parents broke up soon after that, and his two sisters died in an accident on the freeway, coming home from a party. They had been slightly intoxicated.

Ron took out a package of cigarettes from his back pocket, ripping one free; he returned the packet and retrieved his matchbox from his jacket. Striking once, twice, then finally achieving man's most innovative creation, fire. He stuck the cigarette in his mouth gruffly, then cupping his hands together near his mouth, he held the lit match underneath it. The cigarette, heated enough from the match below, combusted on its own, its paper wrappings and unhealthy botanic center slowly converting to carbon in one of the most well known chemical reactions.

Ron took a long drag, before exhaling.

'The heck do six kids need a whole tour bus for?' Ron asked silently. He rather be home right now, spending time with his wife and son. Sadly, he never got to see them most of the time, for he was out collecting the bacon to bring home, dragging stupid wide eyed Americans or Japanese across the entire continent along with some smug, egotistical, pretty boy tour guide. But driving six kids to a costume ball in Paris was a new low.

A mass of leaves fluttered down in front of him, a much more concentrated amount of leaves compared to the leaves falling elsewhere in the visible forest. Looking up, Ron saw nothing but the skeletal oak tree. Its jagged pale gray bark encrusted with small slivers of green moss. Its few brown leaves fluttering helplessly in the wind. Its entire trunk and branches were framed by the gray winter sky above.

Ron pulled his thin jacket tighter around himself. It was _cold_ and it looked like it might snow. He wished those kids would hurry up.

'… How the heck did they even get back to their school overnight?' wondered Ron silently

A soft clank on metal came from behind him, and slightly above. Surprised, he jerked his body around to face the top of the bus.

… Nothing.

"The fu-" Ron never finished his sentence, his cigarette dropped from his mouth to land on the cold, wet concrete. Ron followed suit.

Ulrich stood just behind where Ron had stood moments before; his sword hilt still extended from the blunt blow to the head he had given him.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Aelita, stepping out from her hiding place in the foliage with William.

"He'll be fine." Said Ulrich, reaching to retrieve Ron's keys, "I didn't hit him that hard, just knocked him out."

"Great" said William, helping Ulrich drag Ron into the forest, and propping him up against a tree, "Now we just need Odd and Yumi and we can go."

"Should we go check on them?" asked Aelita. "They've been gone a while."

"I just hope Odd hasn't gotten into any trouble." said Ulrich knowingly "I really don't feel like whore-ing _this_ body to Sissi to get him out of the principles office."

Aelita giggled at that, but William just stared off down the road, noticing something.

"Uh, Ulrich," said William hesitantly. Not being 'buddy buddy' with the whole gang yet, especially Ulrich and Yumi, William reserved his opinions most of the time. But this, he felt, deserves verbal action.

"I think Odd found trouble."

Turning their heads, Aelita and Ulrich beheld one of the strangest sights they could ever imagine.

"… At least there's no Sissi involved." Said Aelita, regaining her ability to speak after processing what she just saw

"Yeah," said Ulrich depressingly as he ran over to the bus, carefully stepping over Ron's body, hurriedly wrenching the doors open. "I guess that's something."

* * *

Jim Morales didn't know what to think as he raced down the flight of stairs to the ground floor of the office building. Odd Della Robbia, goofy, stupid, loudmouth, ridicules, curiously flamboyant Odd Della Robbia, had become a _superhero_… or just a weird looking cat that could shoot electricity from his fists.

Jim had reached the bottom steps panting for breath when the secretary off to his left started asking a question. She was interrupted however, by what sounded like _gunshots _from outside.

The hell was going on around here?

Racing out the door, Jim was able to catch the final moments of a battle between Odd Della Robbia who was still dressed in his cat suit holding his mutt. Yumi Ishiyama, dressed in some sort of Chinese or Japanese outfit, Jim could never tell them apart, and a rather intimidating looking man in a black secret service tuxedo holding a gun. The peculiar thing about this man was that he was shimmering, twitching as though he was a human shaped television screen with bad reception.

Jim was about to jump out; instinct telling him to engage the man and protect the students, his charges, when he found out he didn't have to. Odd shot the same purple arrows out of his fist, while Yumi threw some sort of buzz saw. Together, they hit the strange man, who _blew up_ into smoke, chromatic dust and discharges of electricity.

Jim had never seen anything like that, and he'd seen some pretty weird stuff in his life. He stood stock-still, unable to move from the crouched, hidden position he was in., processing what he just saw, trying, hoping to come up with a feasible explanation. Finally regaining the ability to move, he noticed that Odd and Yumi had already run off.

'Perfect, super-powered students with dangerous weapons running around, strange men on campus with guns, somebody's going to blame to gym teacher.'

As if to add to the confusion of the situation, the inactive light poles above Jim's head flickered on and off, finally burning out, emitting a stream of black smoke. This smoke didn't go up though, this smoke twisted and turned. It writhed and wriggled to the ground, where it condensed, forming another man identical to the one that had been destroyed. Similar phenomena were occurring all around Jim, but from different electrical sources. Each stream of smoke solidified into a well-built, muscular man in a black suit.

Jim… had just had one of his students, dressed up as a purple cat, jump out of a three-story window to land safely, had the same student and another display superpowers to vaporize a man with a gun.

Jim… had begun to enter denial. There was no way those men just popped out of the lights and heaters. There was no way they are made of smoke and electricity. There was just no way! They were just regular men, men in business suits. Regular men in business suits with guns that just got onto the campus. Yeah, just regular men with guns, and as a teacher, he had to get rid of them, to protect the students, yeah! Put some of that old special forces training on them, make em' sorry they ever threatened one of _his_ students.

"Hey!" shouted Jim across the courtyard, which was devoid of students, them having fled into the buildings. The men, who were walking in mechanically synchronized steps in the direction of the campus entrance turned to look at Jim, all at the same time.

"Uh, Yeah! You!" shouted Jim, a little uncertainly, "Who the hell do you think you are? Huh? Who do you think you are to bring guns onto a campus!"

The specters ignored him, continuing their unnatural path to the entrance road.

"Hey! Hey!!!" shouted Jim, running up to the group. Grabbing one of the specters by the shoulder, he shouted in its ear, "I asked you a question! Who the hell do you think you are?"

The specter that he had grabbed turned to look at him, while the rest continued eerily walking. For a second, Jim thought the man was going to attack him for grabbing his shoulder. The specter however, instead consulted its network, researching what program dictates in this situation.

"I am James Manson, I am employed by the Lupos Corporation." It said emotionlessly, " This is a private company matter, civilians are not allowed to interfere "

"Private, my ass!" said Jim before the words could fully be registered by him. "Your buddy was shooting at my students!" shouted Jim tightening his grip on the specters shoulder.

One second, Jim was next to the specter, the next second however; he was sprawled up against a wall, over thirty-five feet away. The specter retracted its hand it used to push Jim away, and proceeded to follow its fellow polymorphs down the road.

Jim eased himself up, testing his muscles.

"Oh, ow, ow, ow, owie."

That was disgraceful, thought Jim, an embarrassment to all his years of military training. To add insult to injury, that man had called him a civilian… Jim Morales was a lot of things, but a civilian wasn't one of them! He was a citizen! But then again, he realized, those men… weren't really men.

Who were they? James Manson… Lupos Corporation…

Lupos corp…

Lupos…

Realization struck Jim… Lupos corp.!

He'd heard that name before… If this was the same company, that meant…

"Aw hell" swore Jim, implications crashing down on him. He had to make a phone call!

As Jim tried to get up however, he quickly found out nothing had changed from his previous attempt.

"Ow, owie, owie, owie, owie, fucking ow!" swore Jim as his muscles screamed in pain. Giving up, Jim collapsed back down onto the side of the school. A crumbled paralyzed mess.

… Now what?

"… Susan? …Rosa? …Mr. Delmas?" Jim called as loud as he could in his condition, which wasn't very loud. The courtyard however, was empty.

"…Somebody? … I think I need medical attention. …Yolanda would be nice."

* * *

Odd and Yumi had been running down the long stretch of driveway for a couple of minuets now, Yumi was starting to believe the 'prestigious-ness' of a school was directly proportional to how long the front entrance driveway is, because Kadic's was insanely long! Odd heard a series of soft pats behind him with his ears. Sparing a glance behind himself, he spotted the army of specters approaching them from behind.

"Haul Ass!" shouted Odd abruptly, startling Yumi as he jetted ahead of her, resorting to running on three feet, his fourth paw still clutching a whimpering Kiwi to his side.

"There's more of them!" shouted Yumi, catching up to Odd.

"Ya think?" he asked rhetorically, "While you're at it, think we could take em?"

"There at least seven, I had a hard time fighting one." She responded, "So, no."

"Great."

The specters had taken to running now; using their super human speed to their advantage, luckily, Odd and Yumi were able to match that speed.

"Where's the bus?" asked Odd.

"It wasn't here yet when I left." said Yumi, worriedly.

"Then where's everybody else!?" shouted Odd.

"I don't know!" said Yumi, agitated.

They were approaching the main road now. They had gone the whole length of the entrance path and still hadn't seen their friends or the bus. A gunshot cracked from behind them and Yumi ducked her head just in time to avoid a bullet.

"Yeah, we're so screwed." said Odd

"Shut up Odd!" shouted Yumi angrily. "Keep moving!"

They reached and crossed the street, the concrete made even darker by the moisture on it. Thankfully, there was a limited amount of traffic on the roads this time of day. The specters behind them were about to do the same, and would have… had a bus from the left side of the road not swerved right into them. Many of the specters merely had time to turn their heads as they noticed this new threat, but none had the speed to address it.

The bus plowed right through their ranks, causing many of the specter's bodies to deform and warp. The paralyzed forms pixilated as they began regenerating their bodies. The bus slowed to a stop, and Yumi and Odd were finally able to recognize it as a very familiar bus. Aelita and Ulrich walking out of the door after it opened dispelled any lingering doubts. Their ride had come!

"Hurry up!" shouted Aelita. Yumi and Odd wasted no time, running across the street once more and into the promised sanctuary.

"Floor it!" shouted Ulrich as soon as they were on.

"Flooring it!" replied William lightly from the front. Wheels grinded against concrete as the bus accelerated, leaving the small army of specters very lonely in the road as they finished regenerating.

As the bus speed away, the men in black merely gazed at it, consulting their programming. Concluding that program dictates pursuit, termination of three of the targets, capture of two. As the distant sounds of sirens became audible behind them, the specters began to give chase. They were, however, not fast enough to catch the bus as it sped through the urban jungle. But the present trajectory of their vehicle indicated that their destination was the freeway.

The factors radically changed in their favor on the freeway…

* * *

What the hell was he doing? By all rights he shouldn't even be here. He was sixteen for crying out loud! By all rights, he should be having a normal, sixteen-year-old life. He should be hanging out with friends, have a carefree day. He should be working on his long lost hobby of robotics, a hobby he dropped because of his lack of free time.

…Every spare second he dedicated to researching a way to materialize Aelita.

It all came back down to Aelita. Aelita was the reason he was being imprisoned right now, he was bait and he knew it! Aelita was the reason his life had changed so radically over the past six years. Aelita was the reason he didn't just turn the supercomputer back off after he discovered it was dangerous, after he discovered XANA. Aelita was the reason… for everything. Everything in the past six years of Jeremie's life seemed to trace back down to Aelita. The bad… and the good.

Who was he kidding? He wouldn't even _have_ friends to share a carefree day with if it wasn't for Aelita. He'd still be the smartest, most anti-social kid in school just like six years ago. He'd still be creating robots to fetch balls

… Pointless.

He had the best friends of his life because of Aelita, because of XANA, because of Antea and Waldo Schaffer.

And now thanks to them, he was laying in a pure white-walled cell.

Ironic, he'd prefer this then a friendless, pointless life.

Jeremie Belpois twisted and turned against the flat, rubber floor, trying to get comfortable. Off to one corner, his suit jacket and shoes, his attire to the unveiling ceremony. Dried, but encrusted with mud. Off in the corner next to it, streaks of dried mud marred the white-ness of the room. Marking where Jeremie had first slept.

Jeremie was bored… what could he do? He'd already checked over the room many times, trying to find a flaw and escape. But it was as perfect as it was white, something the architect seemed to incorporate into the entire building.

He friends were in danger, an army was about to be launched on humanity, and a madman was going to take over the world!

And all that stood in his way from trying to help was this cell. It was… frustrating.

Jeremie turned onto his side, trying to divert his train of thoughts from chugging down _that_train track. Gods know he had already been down there, many times. His foot still hurt where he kicked the door.

Suddenly, as if on command, the door slid open.

Jeremie stumbled out his daydream, sitting up on his forearms to face the entrance.

There stood Ell. She was alone.

Jeremie quickly noticed she was holding a gun in each hand. Standing up, Jeremie met her gaze with his.

"What are you doing?" he asked simply and quietly.

She extended a hand, holding a gun butt-first to him.

"Getting you out of here." She answered, just as simply.

* * *

Gasp What does Jim have to do about Lupos? What are the specters planning to do on the freeway?!? And is Ell betraying her father to join team-super-kickass-lyoko-heroes!?!?!? I just added the super-kickass-lyoko part because... lyoko gang is getting old. They need a more hyper, more catchy name! ROLFCOPTERS GO WOSH WOSH WOSH WOSH!

I think I'm going insane, or the red-bull I just drank is kicking in... hang on... I need to go play more Brawl on my Wii to get rid of it.

Review you ingrates, or I shall kill off Uolith! No, Jim! No, Kiwi!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAH mmm yeah yes'mmmmmmmmmmmm.

ssrly, listen to Session and think about this chapter, it's enlightening.


	16. On the Road Again part 1

Chain of Memories

Chapter 16

On The Road Again Pt 1

* * *

Hiya unwashed masses! This chapters song is Furious Angels by Rob Dougan, instrumental version of course!

* * *

The catchy lyrics of 'Planet Net', another of the Subdigitals smash hits, pounded the interior of the tour bus relentlessly. Its techno rhythm reverberated through the metal hull at a ridiculously loud volume.

_We're surfing to these vibes_

_One brave new world_

_To be uncoiled_

_Are you there?_

_I've got a message to send_

_Are you there?_

Odd's off-key voice joined in, singing the song along with the bus' radio. His high-pitched voice seemed to make the song even more of a displeasure to listen too, despite its already loud volume. He was currently sitting in the very front seat just behind William, the current driver.

The radio was abruptly cut off, and Odd was left to finish a line without the help of the tune.

"_I've got a messa_- Hey!" shouted Odd, "I was listening to that!"

"Now if only I could get you to listen to me" said Aelita, who had just turned off the radio. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

Odd had once heard a long time ago, before his arrival at Kadic, that pink was the color of aggression and anger. At the time, he chalked it up to some bad joke or some stupid guy… that or feminists. Since then, he had forgotten all about that fact.

Aelita standing in front of him, looking very, _very _angry caused Odd to suddenly remember that fact. He could only agree with it now, as he began to cower in fear of the slightly smaller Lyoko warrior's imposing frame.

"I remember saying something about sticking together and rescuing Jeremie." said Aelita, frustrated. "Not skipping around for the whole school to see, getting an army of enemies on your tail or taking pets with us on a life or death mission!"

"Pffft" said Odd, brushing off the accusations. "Its not really life or death, Princess. We just devirtualize back into the scanners, and you know it."

"Not for Jeremie," said Aelita, her voice becoming more strained and angry "or Kiwi for that matter!"

"Uh…" Odd cut his retort short, for the implications of what Aelita had said were sinking in.

"… Oh" he finished lamely

"Uh Oh is right." Said Aelita, "You endangered the life of your own dog, Odd."

Odd looked forlornly at the now very vulnerable looking Kiwi who was sniffing every inch of the bus. Odd saw why. Normally, Kiwi was trapped in a small confined bag, namely Odd's pack, when traveling on a bus. Finally allowed to roam freely in one of these contraptions must be a satisfying experience. Kiwi also would have been lounging on Odds lap at this time, but for some reason, Kiwi was intimidated by Odd in this Lyoko form, possibly due to his lack of scent or warmth.

Odd looked from Kiwi to his own purple paws, which he flexed under his own gaze to understand more. He began to see how stupid it was, how stupid being a purple cat was, and on a more personal level, how stupid the little boy inside was. Odd hung his head in shame, feelings of remorse and self-loathing bubbled to the surface of his thoughts. Oh how he wished he could just take Aelita's laptop from her and program a RTTP to fix everything.

"Its not all his fault. I was about to be wasted by a specter," said Yumi, coming to Odds' defense. "If he didn't jump in, I would have been sent back to the factory, and the specter would, well…"

Yumi shifted around uncomfortably, trying to find the proper way to phrase it without sounding too grim.

"…Move onto the school." She finished.

Aelita sighed, and began pacing down the center pathway between the seats.

"Why would Lupos even want to attack the school?" she wondered out loud, not bothering to hide her frustration at the situation.

"They were after Hiroki and Milly." Offered Yumi, "But that doesn't mean anything, does it?"

"It might," said Aelita. "That white haired man, the guy back at Lupos, he knew my name. Not just Schaffer, but Hopper and even Stones."

"What does that mean?" asked Ulrich, coming up behind Yumi.

"It means that he knows about me going to Kadic, it also means he knows about all of you guys." Said Aelita despairingly

"Oh great, so he was attacking Hiroki because of me?" asked Yumi, frustrated. "That's just perfect!" she shouted angrily.

A loud grinding sound came from below, and the bus jerked slightly to the left before it began to pick up more speed. The bus had just changed gears.

"And why is _he_ driving?!" shouted Yumi, noticing for the first time that William was the one at the drivers seat.

"Because between me, Aelita and Ulrich, I was the only one who knows how to drive." Defended William. "I'm part of a golf cart club, you know."

"You're grinding the gears" accused Yumi, obviously being biased.

"It's a stick." Said William simply. "I'd like to see you drive this."

"Then move." She said angrily.

"Are you crazy?" asked William "I'm about to turn onto the Highway."

Sure enough, the bus was currently going down an exit ramp, entering the stream of cars headed to Paris.

"Why is _he_ driving?" seethed Yumi, now addressing Ulrich.

"Whow" said Ulrich, holding up his hands for mock defense. "Its like he said, he was the only one who knew how to drive."

Aelita nodded in confirmation, and Yumi growled angrily.

William had had enough, he knew he was still on thin ice, he knew it wasn't a good idea to butt heads with Yumi, for she was a closer friend to the rest then he. But he wasn't going to sit idly back and take her insults because of it.

"You know, I'm the one who drove the bus right into that group of smoke-ghosts-dudes." Shouted William from the drivers seat. "Saving your digital skin in the process."

Yumi breathed out, trying to control her anger. After a few seconds, she pushed passed Aelita and crouched down next to William.

"Just… move." She said, trying and failing to come up with a convincing argument.

"Alright." William growled, if she really felt that way, he would move. "Fine, okay, I'll move. Grab the wheel."

Hesitantly, Yumi reached out to touch the wheel, her hands in close proximity to his own.

"Put your foot on the accelerator." Said William, making room for her.

Again, Yumi moved hesitantly, stretching her leg out to the accelerator near William. This put the both of them in a compromising and embarrassing position. Yumi felt a ting of embarrassment, but William didn't feel anything. Sure, when he liked Yumi, heck, if he didn't even know her, he would be enjoying the view of the nice butt that was close to his face right now. But all he felt was anger towards this girl. Thus, the butt didn't seem appealing, what so ever.

"Super smoke" he whispered. He instantaneously converted into massive amounts of digital dust, which swarmed out of the seat and condensed back into a solid humanoid form just behind Aelita. The bus abruptly swerved as Yumi quickly sat herself in the now unoccupied drivers seat, righting the bus.

"Holy shit!" shouted Ulrich, scared from the sudden jolt.

"You Idiot!" she shouted back towards him as she fought to control the bus.

"Yes." Agreed Aelita. "That was dangerous, please don't do that again William."

"She wanted me to move." Said William, playing the innocent card. "I just moved."

* * *

The specters jumped from car to car. Blatantly using their inhuman speed to jump from one automobile platform to another, each time leaving a trail of chromatic after images. Normally, they would try and avoid such a display of ability, but the program dictated the priority level of this objective outweighed the minimal level for discrepancy of non-human abilities.

Reaching the bus, they began to spread out, taking standard flanking positions on top of adjacent vehicles moving at the same velocity. They took care to choose only semi-trucks, where the human driver could not see them, and would not be as easily alarmed. Two specters did not get into position however. Both of these specters were on a semi-truck directly behind the bus. The harsh cold wind rattling against them made their faux ties and hair whip about their bodies, but overall, the wind did not affect them in the least.

One of the two formally dressed specters evaporated into smoke, which slithered its way through the air into the driver cabin of the vehicle. Before the unfortunate driver knew it, he was being entwined by smoke, its entire essence molecularly bonding with his body, hair, sunglasses, and cloths. The specter now had complete control over the driver. Pushing the accelerator down, the specter urged the truck forward, toward the hapless bus in front of it.

The remaining specter was still on top of the semi-truck in question. He jumped down onto the engine section, directly in front of the possessed drivers view. Keeping its balance, waiting for the truck to accelerate closer. Finally, reaching the optimal distance, the specter jumped. Accelerating his atoms to such an extent that it sufficiently passed through the atomic barrier that was the rear end of the bus without any of its atoms intermingling. It had phased through the wall.

"WHOW!" shouted Odd, the first to notice the crouched form of the specter in the back of the bus. Quickly firing three haphazardly aimed shots at the specter, which all missed, he jumped out his seat, proceeding to spray more un-aimed fire at the specter.

The specter, realizing its best option was the retreat, retraced his jump through the back of the bus. It reached its hands behind itself to grab the front of the semi-truck grill, its feet on the bumper, it was still facing forward.

* * *

"What was that?!" Shouted an alarmed Aelita.

"It was a specter!" shouted Odd, trying to make himself heard of the loud barks of Kiwi, which were directed to the spot the specter had just occupied.

"Are you sure?" asked William

A section of the rear end of the bus was torn out, letting the outside air mingle with the much calmer and quieter interior of the bus.

The chunk in question was carelessly thrown away by the specter that had torn it out, the same specter Odd has shot at. The piece of debris clattered along the road as cars passed it.

"Prudy sh'ure" he said with a southern accent for whatever reason.

With inhuman hyperactivity, the specter began tearing out more pieces of the rear end of the bus, still standing on the bumper of the semi truck that was dangerously close to the bus.

Letting lose a battle cry, William materialized his giant sword, taking care to not let it bump anything as he charged down the narrow passage between the seats. With one massive swing, he tore out the rest of what the specter was tearing off, and the specter along with it. The finely dressed fake wasn't finished though. It caught the edge of the engine of the semi-truck before it was flung away. Clambering up on top of the engine, it jumped onto the rear section of the truck.

William, not one to give up so easily, jumped. With his giant sword weighting him down, he only made it onto the engine section of the truck. But one more jump landed him solidly in front of the specter.

"William!" shouted Aelita, who ran to the now open end of the bus. Odd and Ulrich right on her tail. Yumi, while trying to see what was happening at the rear end, noticed very familiar looking men standing on top of trucks all around them…

'Aw crap.'

* * *

William swung his blade in a mighty show of strength, only to have the specter dodge it with ease. Using his momentum, he swirled around and tried to get him again, but missed again. The specter had begun to remove a gun from the inside of its coat, but William was quicker. Attacking again and again, he forced the specter to pay attention to him and not give him time to draw a weapon.

"Look!" shouted Odd, pointing out another specter on a different truck next to them. The specter Odd was pointing to was already aiming a handgun at them.

"Laser Arrow!" shouted Odd, discharging bolts of purple electricity, which the specter easily dodged. It was farther away, thus Odd was having a difficult time aiming. He continued to spam arrows at it, which it continued to dodge. But this forced it to jump and roll, causing it to land on one knee as it tried to aim its pistol at them again.

Aelita, who had predicted this, discharged her energy field she had been creating. The orb of stabilized energy struck true, enveloping the entire specter in wild electricity. Paralyzed, it fell off the truck, still in a kneeling position. It was smoke and dust before it even hit the pavement.

The overshadowed driver accelerated again, bumping the rear end of the bus. The sudden jolt caused both Odd and Aelita to fall out of the bus, for they were closest to the edge, having been aiming at something to their left. Aelita, reacting purely on instinct, waved a hand over her bracelet, causing ethereal pink wings sprouted from her back. Quickly locking hands with Odd, she gained altitude before either of them even touched the pavement. Odds tail excluded.

"Owie." Said Odd, who was hanging onto Aelita with both hands for dear life. He inspected his pixleating tail as best he could.

"Odd!" screeched Aelita through clenched teeth. It was taking all her strength to keep him up, and they were losing speed, for the bus was pulling away. They were currently adjacent to the truck William was fighting on, but even that was going faster then they were. Aelita flapped her wings harder, bringing them up higher over the rim of the bus. Odd, who could now see the battle between the specter and William, freed one of his hands to try and help out. Discharging a couple or arrows, he missed the specter completely, but narrowly missed William himself.

William briefly acknowledged Odds presence by the badly aimed arrows, and was about to scold him when the specter attacked again. Swinging his blade in an arch, William discharged a stream of arc of energy, which caused the specter to contort its body to in-human standards to dodge. William took this chance to jump away; hoping Odd was still there. The stream of arrows that followed informed William he was. Multiple arrows hit the specter, causing him to pixilate. Not wasting his chance, William jumped in, swinging his blade high and bringing it down with a sickening thud into the metal carrier. The specter didn't have a chance as it dissipated into smoke and chromatic dust. William's blade was glowing slightly from interacting with the specter, probably from the energy it takes to destroy it, he concluded.

"Gah!" said Aelita, struggling to stay airborne. "You… are… not svelte!" she huffed in-between flaps.

"Hey, go back!" shouted Odd, "Williams stealing my kill!"

"Idiot!" shouted Aelita, using her last bit of strength to propel them above a compact car before she dropped him. Odd, although unprepared for the drop, landed with cat like grace on the small vehicle. Who ever the driver was, he or she just noticed the giant anthro-cat on his or her car. Swerving left and right, Odd had little choice but to jump from it to another car nearby. He repeated this cycle, using his claws on the cars outer shell to not fall off. Suffice to say, he was pissing a lot of drivers off.

Finally, finishing his game of leapfrog, he landed on the side of a semi-truck. Using his claws, he climbed up the side. Upon reaching the top however, he found he was not alone. Another specter was waiting for him.

"Oh great, you wouldn't happen to be selling insurance?" asked Odd glancing over his shoulder to the cars damaged by his claws.

The specters reply was to pull out its handgun.

"Oh, life insurance, huh?"

* * *

Oi, Feels like forever since I've updated, Anywayz

Review with your most heartfelt opinion of my writing skillz. I take flames, I take devotions of love, I take pie, I take punch, I take ninjas and pirates, I take red and blue.

Review


	17. On the Road Again part 2

Chain of Memories

Chapter 17

On The Road Again: Part 2

* * *

Hello Unwashed, Brainwashed Masses of the Internet, I Am here to inform you that I am accepting Donations for funding for a trip around the world to infiltrate security and science facilities that host powerful supercomputers. If we are going to have any robot Apocalypse as XANA tried to do, along with the Matrix, Terminator and I-Robot, It will start from these supercomputer. Fate of teh worldz Peepz, FATE OF TEH WORLD!

Oh, and the song for this Chapter is 'Technical Difficulties' by Julien - K.

I absolutely, positively LOVE this song, I recommend all of you to listen to it. I always wanted to make an Code Lyoko AMV out of it, cuz it fits so well!

* * *

The windows shattered into hundreds of small bluish cubes. They were designed to break into vaguely cube shaped polygons rather then jagged shards to reduce injury during a crash. Yumi recalled this fact as hundreds of cube shaped glass fragments pelted her. Showering upon her the remnants of the window that had once been a barrier between her and the specter that was training its hand held desert eagle gun on the bus. Windows all along both sides of the bus were shattering from bullets, causing the roar of rippling wind combined with the terrified yowls of Kiwi to assault Yumi's sound wave analysis program, her hearing.

* * *

The specter took a moment to recalibrate its setting, adding the wind resistance to its calculations this time, for the wind pushing against its bullets had been the reason it didn't terminate the target. In truth, the specter was beginning to get… _frustrated_. Program clearly dictates that no means of termination, deletion or capture may be used besides the standard handgun that was programmed along with the specters appearance. This included the hyper-electric conductive abilities that the specter knew it could execute. The bullets themselves, being electro-photoic like the rest of the specter, had the potential to completely ignore the wind drag. That, and most other laws of physics held true in this time period's scientific community. But program argues that the guise of a standard human employed at Lupos must be maintained at all costs. While program allows the use of in-human abilities when the priority is deemed high enough, such as the speed used to pursue the current target, weapons were erroneously not included in this exception. A blatantly human flaw, for it was a human who programmed them in the first place. So many flaws… so much idiocy.

* * *

Yumi dropped her left hand and brought up her fan just in time to block a series of three bullets aimed at her, all the while keeping her right hand at the wheel. Flexing her hand one way, then another, she blocked the first two. The third however required her to try and twist her wrist past its flexible point, causing the bullet to embed in the back of Yumi's hand. The electro-photonic bullet didn't pass through her hand, rather dissipating on contact to do more damage on the surface it hit. Yumi grimaced in discomfort as her hand pixilated like a television with horrible reception. Sliding down in her seat, she brought her body out of view of the window next to her, while still keeping a somewhat decent view of the road. She jiggled her hand, trying to make it solidify faster. While she didn't feel the real pain of being shot in the hand if she was still flesh, she felt discomfort, but it was in her head. The specter body of hers being damaged seemed to make her vision hazy and disoriented. She felt like she just woke up without a lot of sleep, and had an ear splitting headache at the same time. From her adjusted view, she was able to get a good look at the solid gray sky above her head, as well as the towering smokestacks from the industrial factories that were on either side of the freeway; their imposing erectors forms spewing noxious gas into the already darkened sky. Small, insignificant white specs of snow began pelting the windshield of the bus. Melting on contact.

Yumi couldn't help but wonder if this was her last sight before being sent back through the discomforting process known as re-materialization. She was in a bad spot, she knew it. She couldn't keep the bus straight like this for long; sooner or later it would crash. If she brought herself up though, she would immediately have a bullet through the head. At least the latter would make more sense if it caused a headache then being shot in the hand.

Kiwi's yowls of terror suddenly turned to aggressive barks.

* * *

Ulrich hung on to the end of the bus. He tried to get oriented, but so much was happening at the same time. William was fighting a specter on the truck in front of him, but it was to far away for Ulrich to jump. Aelita and Odd had been knocked off the bus, and while Aelita had managed to save herself and Odd, she dropped him and had to duck into the traffic for cover. Ulrich hung on to a loose sheet of metal to lean over the side. Looking right, he managed to barely see Odd fighting another specter on top of another truck. Looking even farther down the left side, Ulrich could see even more formally dressed specters discharging their firearms. Ulrich was able to distinguish the roar of bullets and shattering glass over the even louder howl of the wind.

Ulrich couldn't think, he wouldn't think, he knew he needed to help his friends, to defeat the enemy and save Jeremie. But what to do? Could he deflect the bullets with his swords? Sure, but that wouldn't do anything in the long run. Could he try and go out like the rest of his friends and engage the enemy in close combat? Sure, only if he learned how to magically sprout a pair of pink wings too! Glancing down at the pavement wiping by, he confirmed he'd be digital road kill if he tried to leave the bus. Unless…

'Idiot' he mentally called himself. He had no idea if this would work, if he would just de-virtualize anyway, or if it was even good enough.

'Ah, screw it.'

* * *

Odd remembered always having a good time whenever he fought XANA's monsters, making a game out of it and always having fun. Having fun in what you are doing was a value Odd held deeply… as deep as things can get with him.

This was defiantly _not_ fun. The specter had immediately raised its weapon to Odd upon his arrival. Merely having time for a single quip, Odd had to dodge two shots, and block three more with his shield. The specter had pixilated slightly, allowing Odd a change to fire a well-aimed arrow. The arrow missed its intended target, the gun, but instead hit the hand holding the gun. The hand and gun both pixilated, but while the hand recovered after mere seconds, the gun had exploded in a miniature shower of chromatic virtual dust, smoke and wild discharges of electricity.

The specter had then charged forward, and began assaulting Odd with melee attacks. Odd was no good at these close quarter attacks, where his only advantage was his claws. The specter had easily gotten past Odds guard numerous times, and landed solid blows onto his body. Odd swiped again with his claws, but the specter sidestepped it. Grabbing his out stretched claw, the specter, which stood perpendicular to Odd, swiveled on one foot and brought his other leg up to knee Odd in his torso. Following up with two more punches, the specter launched Odd into the air and over the edge of the end of the truck. His body pixleating, Odd barely managed to attach a claw to the back end of the truck's storage section. Hanging on for dear life, Odd realized how low he was, and immediately curled up his tail out of reflex.

The specter, believing Odd to be out of the way, jumped from its position on its current truck to the truck that was directly behind the objectives vehicle; The truck with the possessed driver, where William had be the last time Odd had seen him. Reaching the truck, it took a mere second to calculate its choice before bounding from its perch into the gaping hole that was the end of the bus. Odd, who had finally clambered back onto the top of the bus had witnessed all of the specters actions. Realizing that Yumi was extremely venerable as the driver, Odd hurled himself onto the closest compact car, re-playing his game of leapfrog from car to car until he to reached the truck behind the bus. Hurling himself to the side of the bus, he latched on and clambered up as fast as his body would take him.

* * *

The specter landed in eerie silence, preparing to engage the last hostile that was, so far, unaccounted for. Realizing he was not at this location as its scenarios had predicted, the specter silently moved up the bus to its secondary target, the driver. It's smooth and even steps made no sound over the rippling wind. Even the gun that re-formed into his hand made no noticeable noise. It was almost in close enough proximity now, a point blank range where, even with the hostile program's reflexes taken into account, she could not dodge.

Suddenly, an unexpected factor added itself to the equation. A small, almost unnoticeable bio-organism hidden underneath a seat, had begun to stress and compress airwaves from its vocal chords, It was creating noise!

"Shaddup Shaddup Shaddup! I know I know." responded the driver, obviously not 'knowing' what the dog was trying to refer to. The specter almost allowed itself a small tidbit of processing capacity to generate a minuscule portion of amusement. But that would be illogical, not when it had an objective to meet. It leveled its gun with the targets head. Deletion was imminent.

Odd hurled himself over the front end of the truck, limbs flayed in all his feline grace. Aiming for such a small landing space caused him to hit the ground rolling. Recovering out of his roll into a kneeling crouch however, Odd quickly brought his arm up, stretching his right fist out and placing his left paw over his forearm. The specter didn't even have time to finish his equations on this new factor as he was impaled by three laser arrows in his lower back. The force of the impacts alone caused the specter to launch itself, torso first, thought the windshield of the bus. Its arms, legs and head snapped back, forced to follow the main section of the body.

"_Aaaaieeee!!_" Screamed Yumi out of surprise, truly believing she would have had a heart attack if she still technically had a heart.

* * *

The specter never had time to grip anything, for a bus did not have such a indented front section devoted to an engine like the semi-trucks it had recently been on did. The specter had no choice but to accept its fate as it hit the cement of the freeway like a rag doll, only to be ground to fine partials of digital dust and smoke a mere second later by the wheels of the bus.

* * *

"Woot!" shouted Odd, "Totally owned, you saw that right?" he asked Yumi seriously.

"Totally fucking owned!!" he shouted, holding up two of his four fingers in a victory V. Kiwi bounded out from his hiding place beneath one of the seats to bark congratulations and gratitude to his feline master.

"He nearly got me!" shouted Yumi, angry for being made a fool of. "Were you there the whole time? Why didn't yo- " She never got to finish her sentence though, for she had accidentally risen in her posture when she raised her voice. A bullet had landed soundly in her shoulder, and she was beginning to pixilate all over. Collapsing out of the drivers seat, Odd rushed over to her, but thought twice of it once the bus began to decelerate, swerving out of control. Jumping over her pixleating form, he plopped himself into the drivers seat and quickly floored the accelerator; adjusting the steering wheel to realigning the bus along the lane.

"How ya doing Yums?" he shouted over his shoulder at the crumpled figure on the floor.

"Bad" she managed to spit out as the last bits of her body reoriented itself. "I probably don't have many life points left."

"You hang tight then." assured Odd. "I'll get us out of here."

"Where are the others?" asked Yumi, with a little more strength in her voice. A sign she was recovering.

"I dunno." Odd answered lamely, wondering the same thing. Gunshot rounds were vaguely audible from around the bus, and flashes of color were distinguishable. Odd didn't dare take his eyes off the road to see more though. All he needed to do was confirm what he already knew; they were still fighting and were still with them.

"Do you even know how to drive?" asked Yumi, dreading the answer before it even left his mouth.

"…Maybe…We'll see, won't we?"

* * *

Whew, not much of an Update, but I still wanted to get this chappy out ASAP. I feel like this action sequence is going to take forever. What happened to Ulrich, Aelita and William you may ask. Why were they not in the same spot they were two minuets ago? That shall be addressed in part three.

Now, I can't help but feel like I'm making Yumi out to be a complete bitch... and I don't mean to do that. Any suggestions on how to write her character? Or am I doing a good enough job? ... To be honest, I've never really liked her... at all... too... proud I guess... stubborn... doesn't share the common goals and opinions as the rest of the group... bitch... scratch that last one... i think... I need Sleep... a purp turns yellow when you choke em... nipples... heheheheheheeheheheehehe

Hopefully this action sequence will be done soon, I can move on to Ell and Jeremie... and Jim... I've said to much... Must swoosh into the night swooshes into the night

unswooshes SSRly, listen to the song I posted above, its amazing. swooshes

* * *


	18. On the Road Again part 3

Chain of Memories

Chain of Memories

Chapter 18

On the Road Again: part 3

Song, once again, is Technical Difficulties by Julien – K, that song purdy much inspired this entire fic. Listen. To. It.

* * *

Aelita tumbled in the air, desperately trying to get another vehicle in between her and her assailant. Immediately after she dropped Odd onto a car, she was almost hit by a bullet. Twirling to her left via encircling herself with her own wings, she managed to get behind the truck that William was fighting on top of, the truck that was behind the bus.

Having such an up close and personal meeting with the side of the bus, Aelita couldn't help but notice the imposing 2-D '_Moonscope_' decorating the hull. Aelita vaguely remembered that name, a furniture company if she remembered right.

She had barely registered this fact before she had to dodge again, for her attacking specter had changed its position, jumping from car to car till he was behind her. Given another angle, Aelita had no choice but to press forward while continuing to swerve and dodge the bullets. Flapping her wings with all her might, Aelita weaved her way though traffic, often swerving to close to a car or truck for comfort. Taking care to stay low, keeping the rims of her vehicle barriers over her.

While some drivers reacted with honks of horns, others still thought that a divine miracle was happening, for what other reason would a winged human be here if it wasn't one of the christian god's angels?

Obviously, they didn't credit the possibility that she was merely an electro-photonic projection sustained by a highly advanced super calculator far, far away. While the wings were merely a boyfriend's gift.

Clearly.

The specter continued to follow her, jumping from car to car, as always leaving after images; surprisingly leaving no dents or scrapes for something that looks like its two hundred pounds of beefy muscle. Whenever Aelita sought a new barrier or hiding place, the specter merely jumped again, readjusting its angle. Passing by another specter that was currently shooting at the bus, Aelita and the specter weaved ahead of the bus and its battles.

* * *

Another car plowed through the smoke and pixels trying to condense, a concrete mixing truck, and one again the base form of the specter was scattered along the freeway. The eighth time that happened, minus the initial time with the bus. The anthro-cat had managed to somehow survive, defying the probability and managed to surprise the specter by jumping and acting before the specter's three hundred and sixty degree scanners had identified it as a threat. Program dictates that such a failure was grounds for immediate termination of current mission, and extensive review and revision of said specter's data, pending deletion.

… It… It didn't want to be deleted.

Diverting all processing power to the completion of the objective, the specter decided to withhold sending the recent data logs to program for evaluation, an uncommon choice. Most of his co-entities sent data logs instantaneously.

… But it didn't want to die…

Finally, a short respite in traffic, and the specter finally succeeded to reform itself. The respite was, as said before, short.

A jet back sports car shot down the freeway at a terminal velocity in the lane the specter reformed in just a half-second before. Using lighting fast reflexes, the specter jumped and used a single foot to push off from the sports car, just as it sped over the spot where the specter had been smoke and dust a second ago.

The sports car's front crumpled as it swerved right and left, its disoriented driver only now realizing he almost hit some nut job in the middle of the road. The specter flew through the air using the momentum it had gained from the car. Arcing and landing on the very end of the concrete mixing truck that had passed over him a short time earlier. The specter, never being able to have succeeded at that jump without using the car as a push board, began to make the long journey of jumping from car to car, back up the freeway. It had an objective to complete.

* * *

Ulrich didn't think this would work at all… and he was wrong.

Currently, Ulrich Stern was running, running up a freeway. Running up a freeway with a streaking trail of yellow and several after images following him. Barely keeping up with the traffic, Ulrich ran faster.

It was strange, becoming tired, exhausted as a specter. He didn't breath hard… heck he didn't breathe at all. He felt weak though, mentally weak. His felt like it was all a dream and he was running through the freeway half asleep. Knowing that he couldn't keep this up much longer, for he had been doing it for several minuets already, Ulrich jumped. Leaving a very potential candidate for a pothole in his wake, he reached and grabbed the rim of the truck he had been aiming for.

With his head turned the way it was against the rear end of the hull, Ulrich could see the shattered glass windows of the bus to the left of the truck. Hoisting himself up, he came face to face with the culprit of the shattered windows. This was the last specter on the right side of the bus. Aelita and Odd having already taken out one with their ranged abilities, and Odd engaged the second one, last time Ulrich had seen him.

This specter was ready for him, immediately raising its large handgun and firing rounds at his arms and head, the only things over the end rim of the truck.

Quickly sacrificing the arm that was hoisting him up, Ulrich drew one of his swords and blocked the incoming projectiles. In a final, impressive single-handed exertion, Ulrich pulled his entire body onto the truck top, quickly rolling into a crouch and drew his second sword. Charging forward, he was able to get into the specters guard, nearly clipping him with the end of his left blade. Spinning around he tried again, but the specter dodged all of his attacks.

Flipping his left sword around in his hand to hold it blade down, Ulrich swung vertically with his right blade, but the specter merely bent down in an impressive display of balance, dodging the swing like it was the bar in a game of limbo. Predicting this, Ulrich swung his left hand up, and brought the second blade down in a stabbing motion.

The Specter however, merely twisted to the side, landing in a crouching position. Shifting all its weight to its far knee, it brought its other leg out and gave a swift kick to Ulrich left katana. The sword in question was jerked out of Ulrich's grip by such a blow, and clattered to the edge of the truck, where it teetered dangerously, threatening to fall off the truck and be lost forever in the river of cars.

The specter, seeing that elimination of one of his adversary's weapons would dramatically increase its own probability of winning, quickly drew its handgun, which it had stored away for the brief melee fight. Quickly aiming it at the precariously balanced blade, it fired once, missing its target as the blade tilted up.

Ulrich, realizing what the specter was trying to do, swung his remaining blade in a wild arc at the specter, who itself was close to the opposite end of the narrow hull. The specter dodged the first and second swings, but Ulrich managed to slice its gun when it tried to take aim again. Delivering a solid kick to its gut the moment it was distracted by its handgun program exploding, Ulrich managed to turn heel and retrieve his endangered sword before it finished sliding down to its doom. The sword glowed a bright blue once it returned to its wielders hand, seemingly happy to be back.

Turning around to face his enemy once again, Ulrich was disheartened to see it was already taking a very intimidating looking fighting stance.

This was going to take a while.

* * *

William was fairly slightly better then Ulrich, having already destroyed one specter, he super-smoked himself from the '_moonscope_' truck to another truck that was hosting a specter, this one firing at the bus. Catching it by surprise, William managed to clip it slightingly with the tip of his sword. The specter, pixleating slightly, proved to be easier to beat; Its pixilizations hampering its motor skills. Swinging once more, William missed again, but instead of accepting his failed attempt, he used the momentum of the swing to circle a complete three hundred and sixty degrees. This time however, he brought the blade up from the lower right to the upper left. This time, his upper cut swing left a clear gash in the specter. Its suit and tie giving way to a jagged rip that bleed smoke and wild electricity. The specter dissipated in a similar manner as all its fellow specters had in the past..

William allowed himself a congratulatory smile; he just beat the last specter that was shooting bullets at the bus. He knew there was another that was firing from this side, but it had disappeared, chasing a flying Aelita. Super-smoking off the truck top, he headed up, his disembodied vision scanning the whooping six lane free-way. Spotting a glimmer of pink somewhere in front of the tour bus, William descended.

The specter was beginning to get annoyed. Almost having hit her with his last volley of bullets, the specter steeled itself for another round. Processing possible capture scenarios, its best option was to disable, then capture.

Program dictates the guise of a normal human must be maintained at all times when interacting among other humans, and this included the fact that guns were not unlimited in their ammunition. Spending precious seconds doing such a pointless activity as to take faux ammunition out of his jacket pocket and reload it's weapon was an utter waste of time that lowered the probability of the completion of the objected by many folds. Yet, what program dictates is inescapable, disobeying program meant pending deletion. So the specter reloaded its weapon, pointless as it may be.

The precious seconds were not only wasted, but also exploited by the enemy, for a new adversary dove out of the sky. Condensing into a more combative form, the new entity was identified by the specter as another of the objectives targets.

Priorities were rearranged, and the specter charged William.

* * *

A single last specter made its appearance on top of the moonscope truck. Aiming its bullets directly down the hull of the bus through its exposed rear end, Yumi was barely able to block the incoming projectiles.

"Keep driving, I'll be right back!" she shouted over the roar of the wind.

"But! Bu—How do I… It's a STICK!" screamed Odd.

"Your doing great!" shouted Yumi as she charged down the bus.

"_Why are there six petals when there are only four directions!?"_ Odd screamed, confused.

A grin tugged on Yumi's face. She knew Odd was kidding… at least, she hoped he was kidding.

Folding her fans back into her bracers, Yumi flipped and pushed off the end of the bus with her hands. Using the advanced balance only achievable by being a specter and her natural talent in gymnastics, Yumi landed gracefully on the engine section of the moonscope bus. One last jump landed her on the hull section of the semi-truck. The specter that had fired on her moments earlier was less then hospitable. Drawing her fans, she braced herself.

There was only one last specter who hadn't seen any action yet what so ever, and it was currently possessing the driver of the moonscope truck. The specter that was currently fighting above it had been coordinating a new attack scenario with the driver. The mission was failing and the probability for the objectives completion was shrinking by the second. Program dictated that it was time to re-coordinate, try a different strategy; one that had a higher chance of success, even if it meant this higher chance would be for future endeavors at the objective.

The driver changed the semi-trucks gears, and began to change lanes. Slowly but surely making its way to the exit ramp.

* * *

Ulrich, having pushed the specter to the very front end of the semi-trucks storage hull, swiped forward with his swords. The specter, unable to dodge in his cornered position, jumped. Leaving a trail of after images, it jumped high, away from Ulrich and up the freeway. Ulrich followed, focusing a moment to activate his super-sprint ability, he jumped. Leaving his own trail of yellow and after-images, Ulrich soared after him.

Ulrich flipped his blades around in his hands, holding them blade down. Bringing them up, he leaned forward, willing himself towards the specter. Time stood still as gravity, the bitch she is, started to reassert herself on the two forms in the air. The specter, being in the air, had no chance to dodge the attack. Ulrich brought his two blades down, impaling both of them through the specters torso.

The specter's body immediately went limp as its programs cut out. Its limbs and head jerking back from the momentum Ulrich had hit it with. Ripping his blades free from either side of the body, Ulrich severed it in two, each dissolving into smoke and pixels as it hit the road.

Landing on the road himself, Ulrich had no choice but to super-sprint in order to survive. Spotting the bus to his left, he maneuvered himself through the traffic till he was parallel to the bus. Dropping his speed slightly, he let the bus pass him by until the end was visible. In a last boost of speed, Ulrich propelled himself through the exposed rear of the bus.

"Have fun out there?" asked Odd

"Time of my life." replied Ulrich blandly as he sheathed his swords into his backpack, walking up the rows of seat till he was next to Odd.

"Where is everybody?"

"Beats me." said Odd, "Yumi went off to take care of a specter trying to unload a round up our ass."

"Was that supposed to be sexual?" asked Ulrich, slightly amused.

"Maybe." said Odd in a sing-song voice.

"What about Aelita?" asked Ulrich

"I'm here." Aelita swooped into the back of the bus, dismissing her wings upon touching down.

"You take care of that specter on your tail?" asked Ulrich.

"No" replied Aelita. "I managed to get away."

"What about William?" piped up Odd, "We need to get him and Yumi."

"I'll go find them," volunteered Ulrich, "I'm fastest."

"Hold up!" said Aelita, throwing up both hands, blocking Ulrich's path to the end of the bus. "I got a better idea."

Reaching underneath one of the seats, Aelita retrieved her red-ish pink book bag. Taking out her pink laptop, another gift from Jeremie to fight XANA, Aelita saw a notification that a debugging program was finished.

Aelita closed out the notification, focusing on the task at hand. Activating the GPS program that Jeremie had used to find them whenever they translated from a replika, Aelita entered in their general longitude and latitude to reduce the processing time.

A topographical map showing six blips immediate pooped up. Zooming in, Aelita studied where Yumi's and William's were compared to hers, Ulrich's and Odd's.

"Williams just a little farther in front of us. He's doing fine as far as life points." reported Aelita.

"But Yumi… she somehow took an exit ramp a ways back, she's in a town right now. Her life points are low, really low."

"What!?" shouted Ulrich "We gotta go get her! We have to turn around!"

"We can't!" countered Aelita, "It's a trap, its gotta be a trap."

"Who cares!?" shouted Ulrich, emotions for Yumi clouding his recognition of the fact that, indeed, people did care if it was a trap or not.

"Ulrich" said Aelita, calmly.

"Its not all about Jeremie!"

"Ulrich?" she repeated, a little louder.

"If none of you will go, I'll go alone!"

"_Stern!!"_ shouted Aelita, referring to one of her friends by their last name for the first time in her life. Her hands had bawled into fists in anger, her jaw was clenched. Odd tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible in the drivers seat, having been subjected to the 'angry Aelita' not but moments before this attack began.

"We are out here foremost to save Jeremie's _life_! The worst that can happen to Yumi is she will be sent back to the lab, or did you forget?!"

Ulrich glared at Aelita as she glared back, feelings of injustice and unfairness coursing through his mind, for why should her boyfriend get a higher priority then his girlfriend?

Finally however, his feelings simmered down as he realized the logic of Aelita's words. Damn… Aelita was always smarter then he was, always had been, and now she used it to her advantage.

"So, we're abandoning Yumi?" he asked bitterly.

"No"

Ulrich looked curiously at Aelita, who had sat back down on her knees, addressing the laptop, which was resting on a bus seat.

"No? But we're not going to go get her?"

"Nope, I think I can give her a way to get back to us," said Aelita smugly.

"A vehicle?" asked Ulrich, giving a shot. "But you said you didn't know how to translate them."

"I did, but I didn't think it was right." explained Aelita. "The vehicles were so bugged up after they were translated for the first time, I had to run a debugging program on them all. Now that its finished, It should work in the translation process just as the log said Jeremie did it on the rooftop."

"OVERBOARD!!" screeched an out of sight Odd, who had listened in on the entire conversation.

"Only one finished debugging!" shouted Aelita, "The others were just qued up."

"Which one?" asked Ulrich.

Aelita merely smiled a cute, puckish grin as she locked on to Yumi's GPS coordinates.

* * *

Yumi had registered the truck she was on was rolling up an exit ramp. She registered the fact she was being separated from her friends and allies. She realized the need to get back to them ASAP. But she was a little distracted by the specter attempting to put a bullet between her metal eyebrows to care too much about it.

The specter landed a solid punch in her gut, which flung her to the edge of the trucks hull. Landing in a handstand, Yumi realized she was precariously balanced on the edge of the truck, and it was only thanks to her gymnastic balance and instinct that she was able to stay up right. Her hair hung down, pointing her eyes to the concrete road below being quickly processed underneath merciless truck tires. Looking up… or from her perspective, down, Yumi saw the upside-down specter slowly walking towards her, his fist clenched already for the punch to her stomach, the blow that would send her falling off the bus and pulverized by the road and spinning tires.

Moving quickly, Yumi put one arm across the other, and spun her whole body a complete one hundred and eighty degrees, bringing both feet into the specters face while she was at it. They weren't heavy blows, but they distracted it, giving Yumi enough time to fall forward, the direction of the bus hull of course, onto her feet. With a small push, and a display of leg muscle power, she managed to get her center of gravity below her feet once again.

This was getting annoying, she had to get off this truck before she was taken to far from the freeway, and this specter just wouldn't giver her a break!

Seeing her opportunity in the form of a grassy stretch of ground coming up, Yumi threw both her fans at the specter, which dodged both separately.

The specter turned back to its target… to find she was gone. Noting the ion trail leading down off the truck, the specter jumped, following suit.

Yumi rolled several times along the soft grassy surface before she managed to stop herself. But before she could get back onto her feet, the specter was above her. Its gun already pointed at her defenseless head looking hopelessly up at the barrel.

A small buzzing noise made itself apparent in the air, causing the specter to flinch. It didn't have any chance to move out of the way in time though, as Yumi's fans cut open the specter from behind.

Catching them deftly, she folded them back into her bracers. Stepping over the specters dissolving body, she waved her hand in front of her face to clear her vision of the specters smoke.

A McDonalds… the grassy patch she landed in was surrounding the children's play area of a McDonalds. Children stared wide-eyed at the oddly dressed stranger who just killed another stranger.

Stranger Danger indeed.

Yumi looked around again… Now what? How was she supposed to get back?

As if by answer, an Over-bike materialized in a spurt of wild electricity right next to the children's slide. One kid even withdrew his hand from a suddenly large amount of static electricity.

Yumi grinned.

'Just another chick with tight clothes on a motorcycle.' She thought satirically.

* * *

Review please, Reviews are the crack that gives me hallucinations of what to write fan fiction about. Reviews are the pizza and soda of my being.

Cookies to anybody who knows where I stole some of the jokes in this chapter from.


	19. MacMahon

Chain of Memories

Chapter 19

MacMahon

* * *

Yumi had no trouble finding her way back onto the freeway, for the truck had not gone very far. Swerving the Overbike into the off ramp, Yumi integrated herself into the thundering flow of transportation.

The Overbike was unique, one of a kind, a one-wheeled rocket propelled motorcycle, a computer program used to navigate virtual terrain. It had never before been in used in the 'real world'; the initial escape from the Lupos unveiling excluded. As such, it was not registered by any federal or state registration as a legal vehicle. This thought scared Yumi, who believed if not for the guns and the car jumping and danger that was already being preformed by her friends up ahead. Then driving an unregistered vehicle was just one more reason to be pulled over by police. With their luck, it'd be a very real possibility.

Her friends were ahead… way ahead. A long, long ways ahead realized Yumi. They had been continuing along the freeway, going who knows how fast for several minutes while Yumi was completely stationary back at that town.

Twisting the handle, Yumi accelerated the vehicle. Swerving in and out of lanes, paying little regard to normal traffic laws. She did what ever worked for her, for she had to get back up to the tour bus as soon as possible.

Her inexperience at driving shown, as she almost got a personal and, no doubt, painful introduction to the greasy underside of a cement mixing truck. Its grime coated axles spinning mechanically, creating a huge roar.

And the noise, the wind wiped through her hair, throwing it everywhere. The roar was almost deafening, and Yumi sorely wished she had some sort of volume control on her own ears. She knew it was possible, she was a program after all, couldn't somebody just modify her sound impute?

Yumi weaved in and out of the middle lane again, passing by even more cars and trucks with her vastly superior speed granted by the Overbike. Leaning left as she turned left, and leaning right as she turned right. Yumi had to wonder… if her butt looked big.

Her legs hugging the Overbike, her body laying low on it to reduce wind drag, leaning every which way to turn, _and_ wearing a rather tight outfight, Yumi's thoughts were normal for a girl of that age in that position. However, she immediately ridiculed herself for thinking such a thing, mentally yelling at herself to focus; get back to her friends, save Jeremie.

That's right, Jeremie. Jeremie. Jeremie. They had to rescue Jeremie.

Yumi accelerated some more, slightly above what she was comfortable with, for it made it harder to steer.

* * *

William brought his blade down one more time, and decapitated the kneeling specter.

As bits and bytes of the specter fragmented into the air, William released his sword, letting it stay where it stood erected, penetrating the metal hull.

That was the third specter, the _third_ specter he had destroyed. How many other specters were there? Were Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Aelita dealing with as many specters as he was? Or was he doing all the hard work around here? There didn't seem that many to begin with.

'Maybe… Maybe they will respect me a little more' wondered William wistfully.

'Once they realize I'm a good fighter… some valuable member... would they accept me?'

A deep thump resounded at the other end of the hull. Turning around William saw yet _another_ specter standing there, begging to be sliced in half.

Reaching around to retrieve his blade, William shoved his hopeful thoughts aside. Weather or not they accepted him, his first priority was to not get devirtualized. This specter, if left unattended too, would compromise that priority.

* * *

The specter landed in the exact spot it had projected. One of the objectives was in front of it.

…It wasn't the anthro-cat… but it _was_ an objective…

The specter began to walk forward…It wouldn't be deleted… it would get the anthro-cat eventually… it didn't _want_ to die…

* * *

William couldn't help but notice this specter was different from the others he had fought so far. Not in any blatantly obvious way; but its demeanor. It walked not as just a programmed action. It walked towards William with purpose, with silent resolve. The image of being a tough secret service agent didn't help dissuade this thought in William's mind, false though that image may be. It's muscular and think jaw were clenched in a show of intimidation. It's eyes, thought blocked by its sun glasses, seemed to bore into William.

Taking the initiative, William attacked; using the greater melee range his sword gave him to his advantage. Cleaving the air in front of him, he barely clipped the specter as he doubled backward to avoid the blow.

William swung again, trying the bombardment strategy that worked so well against his other specter opponents. This specter however, learned from its fallen brethren's mistakes. As William swung in a downward arc, the specter, using its palms, reached up and grabbed the sword as it was streaking downward.

William, startled from the recoil of this blow being stopped mid-swing, was un-prepared for what happened next. The specter, twisting the blade in William's hands, attempted to disarm him. The specter merely partially succeeded though. The blade clattered along the hull before falling off. William mentally dismissed it though, evaporating it into its gaseous form before it hit the concrete road.

Quick as lightning, the specter drew his handgun, determined to complete the mission before the objective could re-establish its weapon in a corporal form.

The specter fired three times at William; whose sword was still smoke that was only now creeping along the edge of the hull. Reacting quickly with just as fast of reflexes, William brought up the metal bracer guard on his left hand, blocking each bullet individually. Dodging the last one by merely moving his head slightly to the left, William was able to glimpse something very familiar over the edge of the trucks hull, behind the specter.

Yumi was there; riding one of those vehicles that Jeremie had created to get away from the unveiling.

She had seen him.

Thinking quickly, William twisted around, throwing all his momentum into a bolt of smoke, launching it at the specter.

The specter, unfamiliar with Williams attack, was hit full force with what it just thought to be a mere concentration of an abnormal gas.

The smoke that was William's sword crept back onto the top of the hull at Williams command, slinking back into his fist. His right hand now charged in a purplish black aura, William drew it back, and launched it forward. The smoke quickly condensed, and William's sword shot out of his hand. The specter, despite being knocked back by the bolt of smoke, was still able to dodge such a large and cumbersome object even with its comprised position. The sword sailed past it, and off the end of the truck top.

The sword sailed downwards, impaling itself in the road at an angle due to its decent. Such an angle was a perfect ramp for a one-wheeled motorcycle, or so noticed Yumi.

Not that she had a choice, it had landed right in front of her…

The specter righted itself, and was pleased to notice his objective had foolishly wasted its greatest defense in an illogical attack. The specter advanced.

But then immediately jumped, avoiding a large wheeled object as it landed where the specter had been mere moments ago. The object skidded along the top of the hull, almost colliding with William who managed to Super-smoke himself at the last second. Even then, the object passed through the mass of smoke that was known to be William, scattering the smoke along its path.

Two fans pierced the specters chest, who had no chance to avoid them in midair; and Yumi Ishyama landed on the end of the semi-trucks hull that the specter had previously occupied; the specters disintegrating body falling into the road behind her.

"That was stupid," she said bluntly.

"Hey, It worked, didn't it?" retorted William angrily as he reabsorbing the smoke that was his sword.

Yumi could have responded, and would have, if not for the sudden jolt of the truck. Looking backward, William and Yumi saw the case of the jolt. The 'moonscope' truck had rammed their truck from the rear.

The possessed driver realized he was the last unit left in the area. He was the last hope for the completion of the objective. The priority was 00, the highest it could go. Program dictates that all rules are void. _All_ rules.

The specter dispatched itself from the host driver's body, squirming in its gaseous form into the air vents on the interior of the truck cabin. Slithering it way through the engine, it found its exit point.

A bolt of black smoke burst from the grill of the semi-truck, launching itself straight at William and Yumi. It pixilated, forming a vague human head, arms, and torso. Below the torso was still a mere streak of smoke. Its head and body were distorted, twisted and deformed, desperately trying to assume normal human form while the wind forced it to take a more streamlined form. Many of its fingers were still streaks of smoke attempting to solidify. A distorted and static filled roar escaped its mouth. Whether it was from pain or aggression, nobody knew.

All this happened in a split second, as the specter closed in on William in Yumi.

Suddenly, a flash of yellow, and Ulrich dropped out of the sky. Bringing his two blades down in a stabbing motion, he impaled the specters back. The force of the blow caused the two bodies to descend sharply, barely landing on the edge of hull of the truck William and Yumi were on. As the distorted specter pixilated and disintegrated underneath Ulrich, he pulled his swords out of the metal, and sheathed them back into his backpack.

"…Why'd you do that to my Overbike!" were the first words out of his mouth.

It was over.

* * *

Jim struggled in the confines of his attire. His face heating up realizing he would have to buy a new uniform later. It had been a long time since he last had to wear this. Ten years? Fifteen? Less then that…

No matter how long it had been; somewhere along the line Jim had somehow, inexplicably, grown a gut. Jim had never noticed it before, only realizing it after he attempted to put on his old uniform.

The fact that he was in a uniform many sizes to small for him could only worsen his credibility in front of these men. Heck, it was a miracle he had even gotten this opportunity to come here today.

In front of him was a panel of men, each wearing similar uniforms with even more elaborate decorations.

If their cloths were any indication, they were military.

"My god you've gotten fat" whispered one man in awe. He clearly didn't intend for this comment to be heard, or said out loud for that matter. Yet the silence of the room allowed his thought to be heard by all.

"Uh…" said Jim half-heartedly, not knowing how to start after a comment like that.

"Lieutenant-Colonel! Please refrain from making such comments." Scolded the Marshal in the center of the row of people. This was Marshal MacMahon, if Jim remembered correctly.

'Of course it was MacMahon!' Jim scolded himself silently 'How could you forget MacMahon?'

Marshal MacMahon was an ageing man, his balding scalp and wrinkled face was evidence to that. But with his age came experience. His green eyes and what remained of his white hair gave him an inexplicable aura of authority, and he used it to his advantage. Countless commendations of the battlefield were identifiable on his uniform.

But was it his experience that justified what he ordered Jim to do?

"Capitaine Jim Moralés has the floor," continued MacMahon. "Please, tell us what is so urgent that you had to abort your current mission?"

"With all due respect, Marshal MacMahon, you and I both know that you were just trying to get rid of me." Responded Jim

"You were to track down and neutralize a renegade research and development personnel who had vital military secrets." Said MacMahon, reading the records in front of him.

"And I failed." Said Jim in a monotone voice. "As it states in my report, he disappeared shortly after I located him working at a 'Kadic Acadimy' as a teacher. That, coupled with the incident with my team prior to this mission, was apparently reason enough for the higher-ups to order me to 'maintain a position at Kadic, and await further orders' for over ten years."

Silence.

All the other men on the table glowered at a Jim, but they stayed silent. They were waiting for MacMahon, the highest-ranking one there to speak again. MacMahon was about to retort, thought better of it, before taking a deep, depressing breath.

"You were one of the best Moralés , the best special ops Capitaine we've had in years." Said MacMahon evenly. "Why'd you have to go screw that up? Why did you disobey your orders in Qatar?"

"Because it was wrong." Jim replied simply. He sorely wished he could shout out, strangle, punished MacMahon like Jim had gotten so used to doing with his students. He wished he could break out of this formal, respectful trance he was in, and deal with MacMahon gym teacher style.

Things really have changed, Jim realized.

MacMahon was about to respond again, opening his mount. But at the last second, he grunted and closed it again. Thinking twice, MacMahon rearranged his notes, took out a pen, and asked,

"So then, why are you here today Capitaine Moralés?"

"Lupos." started Jim, "I want it investigated."

Laughter was all Jim got, five simultaneous snorts of laughter from all five men sitting in front of Jim.

"What? Where did that come from?" asked the same Lieutenant-Colonel that had comment on Jim's size. "How do you even know about Lupos? You were just a special ops commander, now a P.E. teacher!"

"It was in the mission briefing." Answered Jim emotionlessly. "Lupos was the military research company that my target had stolen data form, we hired them for technology disrupting enemy inter-continental communication. But they did more then that, didn't they?" asked Jim rhetorically.

"All right, all right." Urged MacMahon loudly, glancing around the clearly empty room for some leak in security.

"Why do you want them investigated?"

Jim sighed, he knew this was coming. How was he supposed to relay the truth? That computer ghosts saying they worked for Lupos poped out of light bulbs on his school campus then began shooting things?

Ugh…

* * *

HELLLOO WORLD!! I HAVE A BONER!!

Yes… well um… it's a funny thing to shout off the top of a mountain or building.

Yes, I am alive and kicking! Its been a long time since I last updates, but crap in my life has prevailed against my most valiant efforts to reinsert myself in my computer chair… Lets list them off…

GTA 4… all you really do is take this bitch Michelle on dates from what I can tell…

Got all the characters on brawl finally… wolf kicks so much ass!

Dad moved out to go live with his girlfriend… leaving me, my mother, and my sister to fend for ourselves in the cruel hungering world… naw he sends a check every month.

Okay, now that you've read, its time to uphold your blood oath with the other R from the R&R contract. Nooooo its not relaxation, too bad.

ITS TIME TO REVIEW!


	20. Ell

Chain of Memories

Chapter 20

Ell

* * *

Jeremie tenderly got up from the floor, tentatively stretching his muscles, muscles that were cramped due to his captivity. Not once did he take his eyes off the young female in the doorframe in front of him.

She was dressed in practical, comfortable looking cloths, with an air of formality. Her top was gray with a lining in it going from her left neck bone to her right hip, giving it a folded, robed look. But it was in fact, a singular piece of cloth. Her pants and shoes were slim and black, practical. Her hair was unchanged, black and little bit longer then Aelitas, but with a singular bang of hair hanging down the right side of her face, clipped up with a small yellow hairclip. The hairclip was probably the most attention-grabbing thing about her.

Her hand was still outstretched; a gun held loosely in it, handle up. She had just said she was going to get him out of here…

But this girl was Ell; daughter of Uolith, the man from the future who captured Antea, chased Franz, imprisoned Jeremie in the first place and made Aelita's life the royally screwed up mess it is.

Jeremie hesitated slightly.

"Look" she began, directing her eyes downward from embarrassment. "Just because my dads bad doesn't mean I'm am too. I know what he's doing is…" she paused, looking for the right word. Jeremie was sorely tempted to add the word 'evil' for her, but he noticed she was hesitating for a reason.

"Well…crazy." She finished lamely, "But I'm not like him, I realized a while ago what he wants to do will hurt a lot of people. I've been waiting for a long time for a chance to stop him… and, well… here you are." She looked back up at him, her singular bang of hair bouncing slightly with the momentum of her head as she jerked it up. Her black eyes were curious, but neutral.

Jeremie was thoroughly stumped. He had never seen this coming, should he trust her? This could just be another ploy, a trap to get information, but an elaborate one at that. Jeremie had to remind himself however, that if Uolith would set up an entire unveiling party just to capture a teenager, elaborate was no problem to him. Then again, she could be telling the truth, she could be offering him freedom, information and possibly victory over Uolith.

If anything to stall for time to try and comprehend and answer, Jeremie rubbed his eyes, clearing it of the 'crustiest' as Odd had called them. Unfortunately, it did little to avail his ailing eyesight, for it remained blurry as ever without his glasses.

"Oh, right!" exclaimed Ell. She moved herself into the cell and closed the door slightly, leavening a small gap open. Kneeling down, she set the gun carefully on the ground facing away from either of them. Unhitching a shoulder strap bag Jeremie hadn't noticed earlier, she withdrew a small container. Opening the container, she revealed a welcome sight for sore, and in Jeremie's case, blurry eyes; a new pair of Glasses.

Ell gingerly held them out to Jeremie, who in turn put them on. Instantly, the world came into shaper focus, and for the first time in two days, Jeremie could see again.

"How did you-" Jeremie began

"Your prescription was on your school medical record." finished Ell quickly. "Any third grader with a modem could get it. They're also transition lenses, and a higher quality glass, you won't get as much of a sun glare. No blind spots either."

"Ah." Jeremie responded lamely, catching himself, he added a quick, "Thanks."

"This is for you too." Said Ell, still kneeling. Reaching down, she retrieved the gun once again. Holding it handle up, she offered it to Jeremie, who took it gingerly.

Jeremie didn't know much about guns, or any sort of weapon for that matter, so he couldn't tell what kind it was. Compared to the specters weapons, it was just smaller and more metallically colored. The biggest difference of all was the fact that a long silencer protruded from the muzzle.

"Be careful" warned Ell, "I mean, don't shoot yourself, but don't waste any bullets either!"

Jeremie shot her a quizzical look, to which she responded with a smug smile.

"I made the bullets myself. They have tiny, but extremely powerful electromagnets in them. The electromagnets not only repel the gun, adding a significant amount of speed; but the electromagnets are also very effective at disrupting my father's specters. Not only that, but a specter can't dodge it, it'll be going so fast."

"… Really?" said Jeremie, impressed with the innovation and intelligence Ell just displayed.

"Uh… really." Said Ell, looking down again.

Silence… a very awkward silence in which Jeremie fiddled distractedly with his new deadly weapon, trying with all his might to decide whether or not he should trust her.

"Here" Ell held out yet another thing for him, which Jeremie took carefully. Opening his hand, Jeremie realized it was a USB stick.

"That has all the passwords, codes, and activation sequences that my father's programming uses, it'll allow you to by-pass all the firewalls in almost all of his network."

"…Are you kidding?" said Jeremie incredulously. This was exactly what he needed five days ago in the supercomputer lab.

The supercomputer… Jeremie realized slowly. What with all the revelations in the past day, Jeremie had completely forgotten about his laptop, the laptop that was being unencrypted to find and destroy his friends, the laptop that would give Uolith absolute power over Franz Hoppers supercomputer if he didn't get to it soon.

"Nope, all the codes are ther-"

"My laptop?" asked Jeremie desperately, interrupting Ell. "You were supposed to unencrypt my laptop, do you have it?"

"…No" said Ell carefully, afraid she might anger Jeremie, "I would have, but I had to begin the unencryption, otherwise my father would have noticed and suspected. I would have grabbed it too, but its guarded by specters, and disconnecting it from the network would have alerted my father and the entire specter program core."

"Do you know where it is?" asked Jeremie, still unsure of weather to trust Ell. For all he knew, Ell was lying through her teeth.

"Yes, and we can get it. But that means we'd have to fight our way out" Said Ell.

"How much time till its finished unencrypting?"

"Four Hours"

Another silence… another very awkward silence… This time Jeremie was still trying to comprehend whether to trust Ell or not, but to a lesser extent. Now he was trying to comprehend the fact that he'd have to _use_ the weapon in his hand if he wanted to save his friends, the world, and himself. He had to remind himself that he never exactly had a good record when it came to fighting; especially against XANA's specters.

"We really can't stay here forever…" Ell said, casting a nervous glance at what appeared to Jeremie as a blank, white sterile wall of his cell. But of course, Jeremie reminded himself, she knew more about this place then he did.

"Okay." Jeremie said finally, "Lets go."

With new purpose, and a new mission, Jeremie and Ell stepped out of the cell. Ell retrieved an identical weapon to Jeremie's from her shoulder strap bag, and began to lead the way, running deeper down the corridor. No specters were in sight… yet.

"This is the way to my laptop, right?" panted Jeremie, running along Ell.

"Not yet, we have to make a quick stop first underneath the facility." Said Ell, speaking as clearly and as fluently as if she wasn't running at all. No deep breaths of air interfered with her language.

"Why?" asked Jeremie desperately. They _had_ to get that laptop.

"The power source to this building, its powering the supercomputer, the specters, and your 'Kolossos'. If we shut it down the right way, it'll never be able to be brought back online." Replied Ell, still not even close to being breathless.

"How's that?" asked Jeremie, whose throat was already closing up. He made a silent oath that if he ever survived this, he would become more athletic; he swore it.

"It's a little complicated, its kinda from my fathers time."

A power source from the future? Jeremie _had_ to hear this! With a burst of speed, he brought himself level with Ell.

"Try me, I think I'll get it."

Their footfalls were muffled for some reason against the strange, all white floor; but still they raced down the endless hallway.

"Okay," said Ell, "It's called cryo-crystalline fusion, An extremely complex and large crystalline structure made of a synthetic solution is distilled. It has unique properties, such as the ability to exponentially increase or decrease temperature. The basic application here is to exponentially decay the temperature of an object to below zero K on the Kelvin scale, or −273.15 degrees on the Celsius scale."

"Absolute Zero." Said Jeremie, "But to get below that… that's impossible!"

"Or so the science of your time dictates" reprimanded Ell. "Once an object, for any random object with mass will work, is brought below absolute zero; we can simply inverse the magnetic polarity, and it will begin to slowly convert from matter to anti-matter." The incredible fact that she had said all of this, without any shortness of breath what so ever was lost on Jeremie.

While Jeremie had done his own research into scientific theories as any curious mind has, he never believed for a second the possibility (that has only ever been demonstrated in Star-Trek) that Anti-matter could be used as a power source. Even if it could, it'd be extremely dangerous.

"Anti-matter…" whispered Jeremie slowly. "You… you use anti-matter to power this facility?"

"Yeah" said Ell, who apparently stopped, causing Jeremie to almost collide with her. Accessing another door, Ell revealed a similar elevator to the one that Jeremie had rode not that long ago to the level that housed the Kolossus.

As the elevator descended, intervals of horizontal black and white light passed over them, representing the floors they passed.

"There's also another reason" said Ell slowly, "If we don't destroy the crystalline structure, then my father could remotely detonate the anti-matter."

Jeremie looked up at her sharply. "We're in the middle of Paris," he said simply.

"Exactly. But if we destroy the crystalline structure, then the anti matter already made should take about twelve hours to consume, then no more power. The Kolossus will simply fade away, as will the specters and all my father's weapons."

Jeremie looked up at her, "You've certainly thought this through, how long have you been planning to go against your father?"

"A long time now." She answered forlornly. "But I would have no where to go, nothing to be. I can't simply replace him; all his programs are tied to him and him alone. My only choice would be to run, even then I wouldn't get far. He'd find me and have his specters drag me back."

She looked directly and Jeremie, "You're the first chance I've ever really had to stop him. Heck, you're the first person my age I've ever even met."

She would have gone on, but caught herself. The elevator stopped and the doors opened a second later.

Simple enough, a computer terminal, a chair, all situated facing a window; which gave a view to a much larger room housing a gigantic, elaborate, chromatic, complex crystal.

Blue was the dominant color, but ever other color imaginable was visible no matter where Jeremie looked. Tendrils of discharged electrical energy licked the massive structure periodically. The geometric design of it was mind-boggling, and Jeremie, even with his new glasses, couldn't disconcert any of it without receiving a headache.

It wasn't futuristic… it was alien.

"This'll just take a second," said Ell, reaching the computer terminal.

Jeremie would later ridicule himself for not observing Ell doing her work at the terminal, for it would have at least gave Jeremie an inkling at the interface and the programs used by Uolith. Instead, Jeremie stood transfixed at the sight before him.

"Where's the anti-matter?" asked Jeremie weakly.

"Down below" Ell answered, still working at the terminal. "Its behind blast shielding for all the good it'll do. Uolith restricted access to only himself."

Jeremie, still transfixed by the gigantic structure in front of him, sought to get a better view of it, a view not marred by the glaring glass window. Finding a archway to his right, Jeremie exited the computer terminal station, and entered a balcony walkway that seemed to trace the parameter the humongous room.

Staying next to the jut in the wall known to be the entrance and the computer terminal station where Ell was working, Jeremie gazed serenely at the crystal.

This thing… was from the _future. _Six years ago Jeremie felt similar feelings to the supercomputer where he discovered Aelita. It was so advanced, so new, so perfect yet so malevolent. It too seemed _alien _for a time. And the fact that he and his friends knew nothing of its origins at the time did little to dissuade those radical malevolent thoughts.

Now this crystal, ANTI-matter of all things, a Indexicon tower, a real life Kolossos.

"Oy."

Jeremie looked up, snapped out of his daydream. Ell stood above where he crouched; she was holding a crowbar limply. The crowbar almost looked silly, for it looked to big in her dainty hands and small frame.

"The crowbar is for what exactly?" asked Jeremie, who was afraid for a few seconds that it was meant to be applied to the back of his skull. He still didn't fully trust Ell.

"My father disabled the program I was going to use to begin the deterioration of the crystal." Said Ell. "The crowbar is plan B."

"Seems a little brutish" observed Jeremie, for lack of anything better to say. His first impressions of her after all, was that she was a smart, intelligent young women who could find a better way then to resort to such a barbarous method.

"Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best one." Said Ell, gritting her teeth as she hefted the crowbar. Taking two full three-sixty turns to build momentum, she released the crowbar, which went twirling out into the expanse of the room. It contacted the crystal dead center.

The crystal instantly collapsed upon itself, caving to the crowbar as if it were nothing. The loss of one section instantly started a chain reaction, which sent the rest of the crystal careening down to its doom. Sparkling pieces of it seemed to just flake off. Interestingly enough, there was no loud crashing noise, nor any shattering of glass as Jeremie expected. Instead, just a soft, light, tinkering jingle reached Jeremie's ears, making him wonder just how much mass exactly was in that 'massive' crystal.

"The alarm here has been disabled, but it won't be long before the system analysis picks up my edits. We need to get your laptop, _now_."

* * *

The sad remains of a once complete tour bus rolled its way into the entrance of the Lupos facility. All of the many side windows, and the windshield were utterly broken. The only fragments of glass left clung to their frames. The end of the bus was completely torn off, revealing the rear axle. The bus cluttered to a final stop, where the engine chocked, sputtered, and finally died for what seemed to be its finale time.

The door, who's window was also broken to a great extent, needlessly opened, and Odd Della Robbia, giant purple cat extraordinar, bounded out into broad daylight in the middle of one of the most populated cities in the world.

"We're heee-re!" he shouted back into the bus in a sing-song voice.

Four more figures stepped out of the bus, lacking Odds enthusiasm. Together, the five Lyoko warriors glared up at the imposing all-glass building. The building they had been at two nights ago. The building that held Jeremie prisoner.

"Any ideas?" asked Ulrich.

Aelita scanned around the building, spotting the concrete edifice partially out of her view.

"There, the parking garage." Said Aelita, pointing. "We should start there, there probably won't be as much security as in the front entrance."

"Good idea." Agreed Yumi. "Lets go, before anybody sees us."

As the five warriors began running in the direction of the garage, Kiwi bounded out of the bus. Barking in irritation for being forgotten.

"No! Kiwi, you stay! Staaaaay." Shouted Odd, holding up a four fingered hand for emphasis.

Kiwi barked worriedly as his master and friends vanished into the distance. Eventually, afraid that more scary not-alive creatures would come around the bus, (for he was a dog, and could tell these things); Kiwi crawled underneath the bus, curling himself in a worried ball next to the relative protection of a wheel.

Awaiting his master's return.

* * *

REVIEW!

I know what your thinking... and YES. The fact that Anti Matter is there is IMPORTANT. More on that later in the story though.

REVIEW!

So... Ell... My first major OC... yeah... I dunno if I portrayed her the EXACT way I wanted too, but I _think _I did a good job. I wanted it to be 'border line' fluff. Ya know, 'a guy and a girl getting along well as partners and the fact they would be a cute couple together but its not gonna happen' sort of thing. But who knows? It MIGHT happen... naw, JxA r0xx0rz mai b0xx0rz too much.

REVIEW!

Kiwi, curled up underneath the bus is important too. You'll see why. All the little facts in fact, _all _of them hint at something that happens later on.

REVIEW!

oh, and the big giant REVIEW! every so often is my way to incorporate subliminal messaging in my ANs.

REVIEW OR DAAAAAAIIIIII!!

I Think you can understand what they are hinting at.

I KNOW WHERE YOU SLEEP!

* * *


	21. Paradox

Chain of Memories

Chapter 21

Paradox

* * *

As the crystalline structure evaporated into shimmering dust slowly floating towards the floor, Jeremie and Ell were in the elevator again. Ascending higher and higher to a new floor.

It was hot in the elevator, compared to the halls above or the energy room below. The enclosed space, the rapid velocity, the temperature, and the unsettling feeling of what was to come all were factors in Jeremie's current predicament.

He was sweating.

He was still wearing his dress shirt from the unveiling, and he hadn't had the opportunity to take a shower since then. Two whole days without a shower. Not only that, but his cell wasn't exactly air-conditioned either. During captivity, Jeremie had loosened his cuffs and a few buttons to loosen his collar. Anything to provide better air circulation to his more sweat oriented areas.

It still didn't help his armpits or the area below his neck to become stained in a rather large ring of sweat. His hair itched from not receiving a shower, flat and untidy from its usual combed position.

Jeremie, despite considering Ell to still be an enemy, was embarrassed that he was such a wreak in front of anybody… especially a girl his own age.

While these weren't his direct thoughts, he found his current position very awkward, and wished more then anything he at least seemed more groomed.

Yet another factor to add to the list.

Desperate to take his mind off such a mortifying topic, Jeremie frantically searched his mind for something to distract himself.

"You said there's an alert when we unhook my laptop right? What kind exactly?" asked Jeremie nervously, fidgeting with the awkward weight of the firearm in his hand.

"More specters will be materialized." Said Ell hurriedly. "That's why we have to get to my fathers conference room fast."

"Uh, what?" asked a confused Jeremie. "Is that our way out?"

The elevator doors opened, and with Ell leading the way, they raced down the hall again.

"Not really, but its where my father will be right now, and its closer then any exit."

"Getting to you father will save us from specters how?" asked Jeremie, a little skeptical.

"I know for a fact he never carries a weapon on himself, so we can stop him at gunpoint." Replied Ell, "Once I get his handheld controller, I can stop the specters and shut down the core processor remotely."

_We'd win _realized Jeremie, surprised by the abruptness of what Ell was saying. Jeremie was only expecting to escape at most, not take down Uolith entirely. This would be great! If they could get Uolith at gunpoint and take away his remote handheld, then he'd be nothing more then just another human. No army of specters to do his bidding and no way to activate towers. He wouldn't even have a chance to try and get Aelita or William for his plans. This was perfect!

Encouraged by the promise of victory, Jeremie ran on along-side Ell, some of his fear for using his weapon forgotten.

* * *

As Jeremie and Ell continued onward, Odd, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and William raced along the concrete front entrance to Lupos.

The front entrance wasn't elaborate, but it was spacious. A courtyard that was little more then a demonstration of the wealth the company in question was able to wield. A series of arced steppes were the only disconcerting thing about the entrance though, and the gang raced passed it.

And then, there was the wreckage of a once proud tour bus.

The parking garage was little more then a side section of the building. Not as well commercialized and accessible as more public parking garages, but still unmistakable for what it was. The light gray sky suddenly was blocked from shining its mundane sunlight on the gang as they passed under the garages entrance.

The group of five moved out, spreading themselves among the cars for cover. Intimidating enough, every seven or so cars were the exact same color and model.

"Ooooo shiny!" whispered Odd, patting the rear bumper of a more elegant sports car he was crouching behind alongside Yumi.

Finding no entrance on the first level of the building, they moved on an unspoken agreement to the second floor. They continued to use stealth; using cars as cover despite the fact the garage seemed devoid of life.

Aelita was behind Ulrich and in front of William, and sneaking along the opposite line of cars that Yumi and Odd when she noticed something peculiar about the car she was crouching behind.

It was a Nissan SUV.

Silently perturbed, Aelita looked behind and in front of her. Sure enough, both Ulrich and William were also crouching behind similar vehicles. Forced to move forward due to the momentum of her friends, Aelita did her best to inspect the identical vehicles as they passed by. As far as she could tell, they were exactly like the one from her dream.

_It could have been one of these…_she thought mutely… _one of these could have been the car to take her away…_

That line of thinking caused Aelita to pause for the slightest of seconds and put a fingerless gloved hand on the back window of the last SUV. Antea's face pressed against the glass from the opposite side flashed through her mind.

"Pst!" jibed William from behind her. He didn't say more for risk of breaking their stealth, but his message was clear. Aelita hardened her heart, crouched back down and moved forward.

No entrance came to view in the second floor, nor the third, but finally on the fourth and final level, a high security door appeared in the concrete wall.

Everyone looked around the seemingly lifeless garage, and then at each other, unsure if it was safe to move and hoping someone else would be the first to move in case it wasn't safe. Resolving herself with the thought of Jeremie, Aelita stood up first and walked towards the door, hesitantly followed by the others.

"Well," started Odd, attempting to lighten the situation. "If we weren't here to rescue Jeremie, I'd jack one of those sports cars back there in a heartbeat, and probably get away with it. There's nobody here!"

"Its probably a trap." Responded Ulrich immediately, "When has it ever not been?"

"Ever since our enemy has been XANA and only XANA." Said Aelita simply. "This is almost without a doubt not XANA, and as such, we can't keep thinking we're fighting him."

Aelita moved in front of the door. Raising one hand, she began to sing a steady, high note. The voice activation program for her creativity activated, and Aelita set to work hacking the doors program. It was complicated, powerful and very well written. But Aelita had only ever used her creativity with supercomputer codes, so it didn't take very long to open the door. The hardest part of all was the fact that the code for some reason seemed different from the code of her father's creation. But the differences were minute and vague.

"The smart thing for a situation like this would be to have a trap, but since this isn't XANA, we can't say for sure it is."

The activation panel to the side of the door flashed green, and the metallic door slid to its right, hissing along the hydraulics that pushed it, allowing access to a completely white hallway.

Aelita had barely taken two steps through the threshold of the door, and was about to turn around to beckon her friends through, when hissing, crackling roars and a bright purple flash behind her caused her to whirl around. Two specters had materialized out of thin air, or thin smoke, Aelita thought humorlessly, behind the gang while they were focused on the door. Her friends were in the process of collapsing to their hands and knees, all of them pixleating badly all over their bodies.

Aelita had just concluded and resolved herself to fight when the door abruptly shot back closed right in front of her face. Blankly, she realized it _was_ a trap all too late. Strong hands grabbed her small frame from behind, from what was an empty hallway a mere second ago. Aelita was pushed up against the door that had just slammed in her face, blocking her friends from her vision. The hard metallic surface proved to be all too true of a reality despite her strong wish it were not there, that she could return to her friends just on the other side and not be pinned to such a solid surface.

Deafly noting the color of the black cuffs of her restrainer, she realized she was held by yet more specters. With all her might, she tried to charge a energy field, but her hands here pinned tightly underneath her body against the door.

A sharp dizzying jolt shot through her specter form, and Aelita realized she had just been electrocuted. Her vision distorted, pixilated and even cut out entirely for a brief second.

The two specters that held her brought her limp form up. Turning her around so she faced opposite of the door.

"Ms. Schaeffer."

Through her bugged and pixilated vision, she could make out the outline of the white haired man standing in front of her, flanked by two more specters.

"Delivering yourself right to my doorstep… how considerate of you."

* * *

Ell and Jeremie peaked around the corner. A long white hallway lined with doors greeted them. Nothing they hadn't seen before. Racing down the first few hundred yards of the corridor, Ell abruptly stopped in front of one of the identical numerous doors on the right side.

"Here" she answered the unspoken query, curtly and quietly.

Touching the wall next to the door, a grid of purple toned, cube shaped lights appeared. Expertly wielding her fingers across the grid, Ell caused the whole grid to flash blue when she finished imputing a code. The door slid open lengthwise, allowing access to a surprising sight.

Rather then the sterile white that seemingly permeated the entire facility, this room was a clutter of mechanisms and machines that darkened the room to nearly a pitch black. The walls could have been white, like the rest of the structure, but the walls were completely covered with the various terminals and computers. Thick cables hung limply everywhere, hooked from one mechanism to another. Multi colored wires streamed up out from the ground, interconnecting anything and everything in a vast network of cords.

The only thing in the room that didn't seem electronic was a small, plain table. Situated on top of that table however, was a very familiar and happy sight for Jeremie.

His laptop sat upon the table, facing the door ever so crookedly, waiting for Jeremie oh so casually. One foreboding thing about the laptop forced Jeremie to hesitate how ever, from rushing in and grabbing it up.

The laptops two USB ports were currently occupied by a pair of sinister looking black wires. The screen was on and glowing brightly, displaying the flashing red banner, 'Security breach.' Over and over again.

Jeremie rushed to his computer, wondering what to do first.

"Wait," commanded Ell. Jeremie looked up.

Ell stood by the entrance, hefting her gun to be aimed down the hallway either direction.

"Don't disconnect it directly from your laptop, pull the cords out from the processor machine, it'll make the system lag a couple seconds before specters can be sent here."

Agreeing that a couple seconds would be in their best interests, Jeremie grabbed one of the two black cords. Tracing it along the floor to its point of origin, he found himself in front of one of the only machines in the room that actually seemed online. Its one glowering monitor displayed a countdown timer.

00:03:12:16

00:03:12:15

00:03:12:14

It continued in the pattern, counting down the seconds in a steady stream.

"What's this for?" ask Jeremie quietly, point at the screen.

"That's the timer telling you to unhook the computer before multi-agents land on top of us anyway!" growled Ell from the doorway, agitated by the still empty hallway, still training her weapon in the white passage for any sign of attack.

Realizing quickly what the timer actually was for, (the time until his laptop was done being hacked.) Jeremie slowly felt around the mechanism until he found where the two black cords joined back into the terminal.

"Is this the supercomputer?" asked Jeremie, his curiosity burning at the sight of all these strange machines.

"No, its just a processor." Said Ell curtly, "Now pull the cords from that hud when I say so."

Jeremie gripped the black cords between his hands, "Ready." He breathed.

Ell took a couple more moments to compose herself, wrapping her hands around the gun.

One wrong move, one stray bullet, one hesitation, Jeremie realized, and they could die. _Die._

Closing his mind to such thoughts, Jeremie silently noted his own gun's weight in his pants pocket, ready to draw it on a moments notice. Resolving himself to not fall to his cowardliness, Jeremie closed his eyes, wrenched his teeth together, and yanked the two black cords out of the hud. New messages popped up on screens immediately. Not least as which was 'Hardware removed without properly being disconnected.'

The effect off-screen was instantaneous as well. Specters materialized inside and outside the dark room, smoke streaming from ever source imaginable. In less then three seconds, the room was filled with no less then three black-suit clad security guards. More solidified outside the room, where Ell began firing at them.

The loud ringing on the guns being shot surprised Jeremie, who among everything else, wasn't prepared for this. He had to stop himself from yanking his own hands over his years. Every shot seemed to reverberate in his head, it was so loud.

The specters in the room were clearly unaffected by any of the noise. They demonstrated this fact by walking forward slowly, training their guns on Jeremie.

"You will come with us." The specter spoke, abrupt and directly. Jeremie had never heard one of them speak before, and the mere fact that they were still trying to take him as a prisoner surprised him even more. The fact that its robotic voice was still heard over the ringing of bullets coming from Ell and her assailants was another inexplicable feat.

Looking at the specters in such a close proximity with no protection caused Jeremie to freeze. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath, his strength in his kneels abandoned him as he realized it was either fight or die.

Some primal urge, some instinct of preservation, some fragment of sub conscious courage welled up inside him.

The specters face caved in upon itself and chromatic dust scattered everywhere. The body fell limply do the floor where it dissolved into bytes and pieces of color.

Jeremie held the smoking gun in his hand, a hand that was in the process of becoming numb. The shock had reverberated along his whole body, sending chills and shivers everywhere.

The other specters only hesitated for a second, processing data and deducing a course of action, before training their guns on Jeremie

Two shots in quick succession…

and the specters fell just like their predecessor.

_So, that was shooting a gun. _Thought Jeremie. His body was beginning to take a little more control and he was getting more feeling in his now numb limbs. The specters were on the ground, disintegrating away from the wound Jeremie had inflicted upon them.

He didn't know what came over him; he didn't know how he had done it.

… But Jeremie Belpois just shot a gun…

The thought seemed strange even to Jeremie himself, for he had never believed he would ever even touch one. They were for Police, soldiers, criminals and action heroes.

Jeremie wondered which one of those he was now… With all the hacking he'd done in the past, he'd certainly count as a criminal…

"It won't take long for the system to reorient itself, grab you laptop and hurry up!"

Jeremie looked at Ell, who herself was unscathed. She was framed by the white light of the hall that seemed to stream into the dark hud room. A few bullet holes riddled the visible wall between her and the doorframe. Her tone of voice wasn't commanding, authoritive or rude in anyway.

She was scared… she seemed frail now, Jeremie has known she was slim, but now she just seemed weak. Her eyes darted everywhere, seeking the so aptly named specters coming from any direction.

Jeremie weakly gathered up his laptop, his arms felt like jelly. Glad that it wasn't damaged by any wayward bullets, he tucked it into Ells bag. The same bag she had used to bring all the supplies she gave him in his cell, and looped the shoulder strap around his shoulder. It was an uncomfortable weight, but Jeremie would endure.

* * *

Two more specters materialized out of two overhead sickly orange lights. This caused the grand total of specters in the room to reach four. The sides were even, but team Lyoko was still at a disadvantage.

They were keeled on the ground, bugged and pixleating in dull pain, all four of them.

Two of the specters moved forward, ignoring Yumi and Ulrich, who they respectively had to step over. They reached William, one grabbed him by his hair, and flung him over the shoulder of the other. The specter carrying William noticed he was beginning to take a more corporal and stable form again, and delivered another prompt, short electrical burst. Satisfied that William needed more minutes to re-stabilize himself, the specter moved towards the door, which opened on its own accord to let it, William, and the other specter through.

Ulrich's eyes snapped open.

Still not recovered enough from the electrical shock, Ulrich forced his buggy limbs to move via sheer force of will. Spinning like a top from where he lay, Ulrich gained the position and momentum to throw one of his swords at the rapidly closing door.

The sliver of faux metal came between the door and its frame just as there was merely a sliver of space left. The sword quivered, but surely prevented the door from closing all the way.

The specters reaction was immediate, and Ulrich barely had enough time to bring his remaining sword up to absorb the bolts of electricity directed at him.

_Oh, great, _thought Ulrich, _Bullets were bad enough, now they finally decide to use electricity? _

The specters did not relent, providing a consistent stream of electricity for Ulrich's sword to absorb. Without his other sword to attack, all Ulrich could do was stand there absorbing electricity for all eternity.

Behind the specters, Yumi and Odd were waking up, providing Ulrich with hope that his eternity dilemma would be solved.

* * *

William's vision returned, but it still showed inky blackness. It was distorted, pixleating and very fuzzy, and still showed inky blackness. Adjusting his head slightly, he saw pillars of blackness walking along a surrounding of white.

It was then that William realized exactly where he was.

"Super-smoke" whispered William

The specters immediately sought to grapple thin air against his shoulder, for William shot out of his hold. The bolt of purple smoke known to be William tried to zoom away, but another specter behind the first one blocked his passage, discharging its gun expertly. The Bullets passed through the smoke cloud, but they still destroyed what they came into contract with. William _felt_ his life points drain away.

Turning about face, William dove underneath the legs of his former captor, and shot along the corridor. Barely outdistancing the specters with their superhuman speed, William was left to randomly find his way through an endless maze of all white corridors.

* * *

A single specter guarded the wooden conference room door, its obscured eyes looking straight at the opposite wall, devoid of life.

Jeremie and Ell rounded the corner, running at full speed. Flinching at the sight of the specter, Jeremie leveled his newly acquired gun at the both of them. Ell however, put one hand onto of his, forcing him to lower his weapon.

"I knew we'd fight this specific multi-agent, so I managed to neutralize this one before I came to get you." Said Ell, quietly as she could.

"Why didn't you neutralize the whole facility if you could do that?" asked Jeremie, slightly suspicious.

"My father would notice, and he could override what ever I did. That's why we have to get his handheld, with it, I'd be the administrator of the core processor."

Her answer was simple, brief and without hesitation, and Jeremie had no choice but to believe her.

It was unnerving, walking up to the specter. It didn't move, not a single muscle quivered, not a single hair was out of place. It was picture perfect, too perfect. Jeremie felt truly scared walking into its line of vision. This wasn't the first specter he had seen up close, but it was surely the only one that wasn't going to attack him if he made a wrong move.

Ell brush passed it, completely ignoring its presence. Accessing a similar panel off to the side of the conference room door, Ell explained, "This is one of the few rooms that father brings people too. He has his meetings with stock investors, CEO's and oth-"

The specter lashed out mid-sentence, slamming a powerful arm along the wall where Ell's head had been moments before. Ell ducked just in time, displaying reflexes of a similar speed, something that shouldn't have been possible in Jeremie's mind. The specter lashed out with its feet, clipping Ell in her chin, causing a sickening crunch to reverberate along the hall, and sending her flying several feet back.

Jeremie fumbled with his gun, desperate to lodge one of the special electro-magnet bullets into the specters body. The specter however was too close and too fast. With one swipe of its hand, it knocked the firearm clean from Jeremie's hands, sending it spinning down the hall, in the opposite direction of Ell.

The specter was too close for Jeremie to do anything but flinch as the specter picked him up by the throat. Holding him up with one hand with relative ease, the specter began to choke Jeremie. Purple electricity surged along the length of its arm, causing Jeremie to spasm and twitch.

_Ahhh, __**here**__ was something familiar_ thought a particularly bleak part of Jeremie's sub-conscious. Jeremie had been electrocuted multiple times by XANA's specters and polymorphs. He had always been saved however, more times then not, when he was at the brink of death. It had always been Aelita that saved him, Aelita that saved his life. Aelita managing to reach the tower XANA had activated to power the specter, and deactivating it, causing the specter to disintegrate back into digital photons of light.

Aelita wasn't here… Aelita wasn't in a virtual world… heck, neither of them even knew how to get to whatever virtual world was hosting the tower powering this specter… Ell was his last hope… her neck was broken… did she betray him?… no… no that can't be…she was dead…

…Ell was dead…

…It was hopeless…

Jeremie's whole body turned numb, dulling ever sense in his body. The smell of sweat had abruptly turned to that of something burning, before his sense of smell cut out entirely. The intense crackling and zapping of the electricity running over his body was the last thing he heard before his ears went numb. His vision flickered in and out, splotches of red dotted his vision, blinding him in red, then in darkness.

His skin, his sense of feeling… He was tired, tired from the two days of preparation, tired from the long bus ride, tired from the party, tired from the flying above Paris with Yumi, tired from free falling before being yanked upright by Aelita, tired of his days in captivity, tired of shooting, tired of all the revelations that were the answer of so many questions, but created even more.

His muscles jerked and a spasm once again rolled up his entire body, causing him so much discomfort. He couldn't breath, he didn't know why, but he just couldn't breath. He didn't even try anymore because he couldn't. At first, it was excruciating pain, but now…any pain he had now was just a minor tingle in his limbs, his torso, and his head. They were all tingling. Then… nothing

His whole body when numb… he didn't feel anything anymore.

Except for one…

_Tha-dump… _

_Tha-dump… _

…_Tha-dump…_

He just listened to it, its rhythmic beating soothing him for some reason… it didn't even occur to him what it was, or that it was slowing down…

Gravity shifted, and Jeremie suddenly felt all his blood rush to his left side. He wished he could see… he wished he could escape… he wished he could live.

* * *

Ell collided with the specter, causing it to drop Jeremie's prone form. Rolling off to the side to recover, Ell got her feet underneath her. The specter, not expecting it in the least from somebody it had confirmed to be dead, had no time to react.

The specter leapt up, hands crackling with electricity, but Ell was faster then the lighting it wielded. Delivering a solid blow to its chest, she followed up with several kicks to its knees, stomach and finally its head. Flipping backward, Ell was irked to see the specter already regenerating from its injuries.

The specter, forgoing any methods of weaponry or electricity, leapt forward with supernatural speed, leaving a trail of after-images. Ell matched his speed, blocking him blow for blow, punch for punch, dodge for dodge and kick for kick. The specters much more imposing and larger body didn't mean anything for it in this fight, nor its strength nor speed. But it did have something Ell did not.

Calculating the trajectory, the kinetic force involved, and the exact algebraic formulas, the specter removed its gun from the inside of its jacket. Ell tried to swipe it away, but the specter jumped back. Aiming it at the wall to his and Ells side, he fired. The bullet rebounded against the wall, and headed straight for Ell's head.

… Ell nimbly dodged…

"My turn." She whispered.

Jump-somersaulting backwards, she landed in a crouch right behind Jeremie's discarded gun. Picking it up, she fired six successive rounds at the specter, who was frozen stiff, processing the data he had just acquired, and trying to make sense of it. He never got the chance, for four of the six bullets were on their mark, and pierced the specters chest.

The specter evaporated just like all of its kin had in the past.

Ell deftly dropped the gun, and absently walked to Jeremie's lifeless form. Kneeling down, she nudged him with her hand.

"Wake." She said simply, and Jeremie stirred.

"Its hurts…" he grunted weakly.

"We're almost done." She whispered quietly, eyes downcast. "Can you stand?"

"Do I have a choice?" asked Jeremie, weakly but redundantly.

"Then rise." And Jeremie did.

Weakly at first, for his whole body still tingled, but with Ell hoisting him upright, he eventually was able to support himself on a wall.

"The door." Pointed Jeremie, "can you still open it?"

"Yes." Replied Ell, retrieving Jeremie's gun.

"Then please," whispered Jeremie, leaving the wall to stand on his own, "Do it, just do it and let us end it."

Ell silently finished the code she seemed to have started so long ago, and the wooden door swung open.

Uolith sat there, at the very end chair of the glossy wooden table, at the opposite end of the room.

"… Well, well, you followed to truth and you followed the lies. Nobody wins, and everyone dies." He recited.

"This is what you get for putting so much on following some whiny, little girl's chain of memories back to their source."

* * *

Aelita was dropped roughly on the floor. She was still bugged, still couldn't move and her vision was still blurry, but she could still see the white haired man arrayed with a posse of specters. She was in a red tinted room, as opposed to the endless white corridors they had gone to get here.

"Our last meeting forced me to reconsider how I would deal with you, Ms. Schaeffer." He whispered huskily.

"Fortunately, it wasn't beyond my ability to construct this…"

From the ceiling descended a wide, forked hulk of metal. Its two prongs were twelve feet wide, and came to rest with Aelita between them.

It began to rotate…

The two prongs began to spin around Aelita, slow at first, then faster and faster. The machine above her that powered the spinning hummed to life, its power increasing.

"It wasn't so hard to build, as it was to figure out how." Whispered the white haired man, somehow making his voice known to her despite the whirling of the metal and the humming of the machine.

"I'd like to formally welcome you, Ms. Schaeffer…" he began.

The machine whirled faster and faster, spinning at breakneck speed. Suddenly power surged to life over the tongs, creating streaks of light that cut Aelita out entirely from the outside world.

Aelita struggled to stand, finding the inside to be strangely rejuvenating to her specter body.

"I'd like to welcome you to your mothers sweat and blood."

Then it begun…

"To the salvation of our species."

A spark of light danced around Aelita's form, then another, then another, then more.

"To the Alpha, and the Omega, the place of the beginning, and the place where it ends."

Curious to see where it was coming from, she inspected her surroundings.

It was coming from her…

Looking at her fingers, she could only watch as they disintegrated into digital dust and pixels before her eyes, joining the whirling metal prongs.

Her feet… her hand… her left leg… now her right leg…her arm... her ear... her body... her face...

"Welcome to Xanadu."

And Aelita was gone.

* * *

PANT

Okay... thats done... oh boy...

You know the deal, leave a review... oh boy... that was a dozy...

Did I over-do it with the almost-killing-jeremie? I kinda feels like I did... but I dunno.

"Welcome to Xanadu." "This is what you get for following a whiny, little girls chain of memories back to their source."

Yes, Uolith IS in two places at once... you'll see.


	22. Welcome to Xanadu

Chain of Memories

Chapter 22

Welcome to Xanadu

* * *

Musical inspiration: Missing You by Jem

* * *

"Your Kung-fu is no match for my… Lazoooor Arrwuws!!"

So speakth Odd Della Robbia as he shot another volley of purple arrowhead bolts at the incoming polymorphic specter. His aim was true, and the specter degenerated into digital pixels and dust just like its entire kin had over the course of the day.

"They took Aelita and William!" shouted Ulrich from across the parking garage, evidence from his own battle displayed on the walls, near-by cars and the floor.

"Hurry!" urged Yumi, as they all convened on the steel door. Ulrich's sword was wedged in it, preventing it from closing all the way. Ulrich grasped his sword, and using his sword as a lever, pulled with all his might to one side. The door sputtered sparks in protest as its electronics resisted Ulrich's strength, but a photonic digitally incarnated specters strength could not be denied. The door inched open more, but Ulrich's sword had already reached its maximum mechanical advantage. Yumi and Odd grasped the door now that their fingers fit, and since they shared Ulrich's specter strength, their combined efforts succeeded in pulled the door open several more feet.

"Hang on." Commanded Ulrich, as he got in the doorframe. Positioning his back to the frame, he put his foot on the door that was being pulled back by Odd and Yumi.

No sooner had he done so then Odd's grip slipped, and Yumi couldn't keep the door open by herself. The door tried to slide back closed, or would have, had not Ulrich stopped it with his feet.

"Go" he grunted. Yumi and Odd crawled underneath him as he struggled to keep the door open. Once they were through, he heaved himself over, trying to make sure his entire body was clear of the door as it shot back closed.

They were in.

* * *

The tingle in her spirit, the feeling of being compressed and re-assimilated after being forced through a tiny, tiny tube, the sense of dread that came with the recognition of these familiar feelings.

She had just been destroyed as a specter, but rather then being devitalized, or virtualized for that matter. Aelita felt neither, she felt… she didn't know. It was familiar, but she couldn't place it.

In the middle of a virtual world, a unique discrepancy existed, a hud, a bump, a pod that couldn't be found anywhere else in the virtual world itself. The pod unlocked itself, raw data streaming over itself, untangling and revealing the inside to the rest of the world. Aelita Schaeffer tumbled out.

Unwillingly and tired, Aelita drew in her legs, rubbed her eyes, and tried to make sense of her new surroundings.

For one terrifying moment, Aelita believed she had fallen into the digital sea, for that's what it looked like. Red, lots of red, cubic structures composed the entire architecture, sky, and floor, similar to the interior of sector 5, but more chaotic and random. Random tidbits of data flashed here and there, like a neon sign displaying 'Open' in some obscure alphabet. Passageways and corridors seemed to branch off at random in different directions, some were even smack dab in the middle of the floor or ceiling, jagged and chaotic. Discharges of pure energy transferred from one surface to another across the endless abyss of the openings around her.

Aelita tucked her kneels under her and stood up, scared for her life. Where was she? What did the man with the white hair mean? Her mothers sweat and blood? The beginning and the end?

Had circumstances been different, and Aelita was in a different setting, she would have been a little disgusted at the man's theatrics.

Aelita took a couple tentative steps forward, testing the new, unfamiliar ground. It seemed similar to the cubic floors of sector five, but it still intimidated Aelita. Content that the floor wouldn't suddenly swallow her, Aelita once again eyed the massive jagged passageways, particularly one that was ascending to an angle to her right.

Not taking her eyes off that passageway, Aelita waved one hand over her wrist with the star-bracelet.

Nothing.

Aelita glanced down at her wrist.

Her bracelet, her arm, her entire body… was gone. She wasn't wearing her pink Lyoko outfit, she didn't have a star bracelet or wings or anything. It was as if someone had dressed her all in gray. Instinctively reaching to her face, she felt her ear. Her ears were still pointed for some reason, but her earring was missing, so were her facial marks.

'A blank slate.' She realized slowly. 'He wiped my outfit data clean, I'm being projected on a blank slate.'

She realized what was wrong with her… but she had no solution on how to fix it. Only someone on the outside, on earth, at a computer terminal like Jeremie could give her powers or her outfit back.

Aelita dropped to her knees, and inspected her surroundings once again. It was massive, she realized, so massive. It wasn't even comparable to sector five in terms of size. The terrain all around her was riddled with cubic depressions and rises, rocky and uneven, insurmountable in some places. It was as if it had never been designed with the intention someone would travel through it. Her only hope of ever getting anywhere here was with her wings or a vehicle. But she didn't have any…

An overwhelming sense of hopelessness filled Aelita. The pod behind her was useless to her, and her only hope of getting anywhere in this new world was by foot, and that would take forever. Her friends were in trouble, Jeremie was in trouble, she had to get out of here, and she had to help!

But she couldn't do anything…

Suddenly, a writhing, cunning, squirming roar echoed through the cavern of a room. Aelita looked around wildly, instantly recognizing that particular sound. That cry cut to her bone, for with that cry came to promise of the worst kind of pain, the worst kind of volition a person could have, the worst. She eyed every direction like a caged animal, her eyes wide with terror.

The Scyphozoa emerged into view from behind a cubic rise in the floor, weaving its way along the uneven ground towards Aelita.

_No. No. No. No. _ Aelita mentally whispered, backing away in fear. It couldn't be, XANA was dead, he was _dead_! The Scyphozoa should have been dead too!

No matter how much Aelita mentally denied it, the Scyphozoa continued to approach. The Scyphozoa closed the gap between itself and Aelita, raising its front tentacles in preparation. At the last second however, Aelita broke free of her fear-induced trance.

"No!" she screamed, turned on her heel, and took off running.

The ground was almost impossible to straight out run in, but Aelita did her best. Jumping whenever there was too big on a gap, finding a new path when she couldn't make the jump to a high up mound. Most of the time however, it was like walking up or down a flight of big uneven stairs.

The Scyphozoa screamed another guttural cry, seemingly from on top of Aelita. Ignoring it, Aelita just ran faster. It didn't matter where, it didn't matter how, and it didn't matter if she didn't know a thing about this strange new virtual world.

She just had to get away from the Scyphozoa.

Scyphozoa… if there was a name for anything and everything Aelita ever truly felt pure, primal fear for, it would be Scyphozoa.

"Help!" Aelita screamed to the sky, half expecting Jeremie or somebody to be there. Even the white haired man would be all right with her, she could make a deal, make him call off the Scyphozoa, anything!

More bolts of pure electricity discharged and danced from wall to wall, neon signs flashed, but nobody answered.

"Help! Help me!!" she screamed, desperation and raw terror contorting her voice.

This time she got an answer, in the form of a laser bolt hitting the ground right in front of her foot. The red ground reeled back to reveal a green wire frame, then regenerated itself. Aelita glanced up just in time to see a Krab in the process of firing another shot. Ducking her head down, she grunted as she avoided the shot.

The Krab jumped from its perch, navigating the terrain with expertise granted through its long legs. Its skin was only a shade lighter then its surroundings, making it difficult to spot. A pair of Bloks awaited Aelita at the end of this new corridor, already charging their lasers. Aelita just had enough time to double back into a side exit to escape before the Krab caught up with her.

Behind the Krab, the echoing cry of the Scyphozoa made Aelita's skin crawl. Aelita continued running, dodging and avoiding whatever monsters she ran into, but in the process just gaining more of a procession. She saw a tower once, built into the wall, its roots of data literally fusing in to the walls data streams. She tried to make a break for it, but three hornets and a manta appeared above her, blocking her path with a hail of lasers. She forced herself to run through another side passage before the Scyphozoa arrived and it's fellow monsters cut off all other means of escape.

Nimble with elfin grace, fear hardening her drive, Aelita deftly jumped, sped, and sprinted; evading the Scyphozoa as long as she could. In the end, her escapade through out the expansive virtual world's many corridors and halls proved to be her downfall. Eventually she came to a cramped, compressed room with only three exits. One spiraled directly upwards, impossible for Aelita to use without her wings. One more that sloped in a sharp decline that seemed to turn at a seventy degree angle about fifty yards in; this one was already being guarded by two Tarantulas and three Creepers hanging off the entrance frame.

The third and last one, was the way Aelita had came, and was already rendered void as a choice. Krabs, Tarantulas, Bloks, Creepers, Hornets, Kankralots, and even a few Mantas streamed into the room, following her ever since Aelita had run through their respective corridor. Following them all like the guest of honor glided the Scyphozoa. Aelita desperately surveyed the room, desperately trying to find a means of escape she had not seen.

There was none.

The Scyphozoa screeched again, petrifying Aelita in terror, promising the pain she was so afraid of.

Monsters swarmed around her, encircling her, denying her any means of escape she happened to have missed. Hornets and Mantas circled above. They stared at her in mute fascination, as if Aelita had been fighting these very monsters for years and years and years, and now it was finally all drawing to a bitter close where no side won.

The Scyphozoa glided over the row of monsters, raising its tentacles to get passed them, then letting them fall like a curtain of despair. Aelita suddenly lost the will to stand, and collapsed weakly on her knees. With every fiber of her body, she wanted to reject what was going to happen, she wanted to resist it.

"Help, help me!" she screamed again, hoping, praying for somebody, anybody to take mercy on this pitiful, sobbing, terrified girl. She scrunched her eyes, bawled her hands into fists, and looked at the ground.

"_Help me!!_" she screamed again, the cry echoing around the immense chamber, letting Aelita hear her own desperation, her own horror.

The Scyphozoa wrapped its tentacles around her body, enveloping her in an aura of red, a red so similar to the environment around her.

Paralyzed, all Aelita could do was look at the three tentacles being raised in dread. One touched her forehead, the other two to her two temples.

And then the pain, the numbing, drumming pain of your mind, your very soul being raped.

The Scyphozoa wanted something, something more then what it had ever taken before. Aelita felt it, probing, searching, rippling waves of agony every second it moved. Finally, it seemed to find what it wanted, and started ripping it away. Aelita flickered, dazed. What the Scyphozoa wanted was of so fundamental importance to Aelita, she was afraid that without it, if the Scyphozoa succeeded in ripping it away, Aelita would collapse, unable to be. In a feeble attempt of resistance, Aelita fought the Scyphozoa, wrestling it away from that section of herself. The Scyphozoa responded in turn with a mighty wave of pain, dulling everything, forcing Aelita to watch as the Scyphozoa siphoned away at her primal importance.

Finally, after what felt like days, the Scyphozoa released her. Aelita collapsed heavily to the uncaring red floor, unaware of the world around her. The Scyphozoa vanished, and the various monsters drifted away, their task done.

In the end, Aelita lay broken, raped, and discarded on the floor of gargantuan chamber, in the middle of Xanadu.

Her mother's world.

* * *

Did I over-do it with the 'rape' description? Is it time to turn this story M? I don't know, and I'm being a little paranoid about it.

Anyway, not much here in terms of plot, but Its a good sizable chunk of stuff that needs to be said in order for the story to go on. Here is is, read it, love it, hate it, smash it, edit it, violate it... just as long as you review it.

Last thing, the song at the top, the musical inspiration, I always thought that was a good, Aelita/Antea mother/daughter song for their situations.

Next chapter should be up soon, but I do want a few more reviews here first.


	23. Omega Unleashed

Chain of Memories

Chapter 23

Omega Unleashed

* * *

Musical Inspiration: Passions killing Floor by HIM

* * *

I found the picture of the person I based Ell off of. Its on my profile if you guys wanna check it out.

* * *

"Why have you done this?"

Ell stood resolute under the question, her singular lock of hair obscuring her face from Jeremie to her left, leaving him to wonder exactly what she was thinking.

"Because I realized," She answered, "that people would die because of you. People who hurt and love and share and feel as much as we do."

She extended a slender, pale hand out to Uolith, taking a couple steps forward. Jeremie clutched his weapon harder, not liking what was happening.

"…Please daddy."

Uolith stared pensively at her hand for a moment, inspecting it as if it held some mystery.

"Don't do this." She pleaded "We haven't done anything wrong yet, we could just stop this all, help then figure out how to materialize Schaeffer, they'd forgive us!"

_What? _Jeremie mentally balked. If Uolith would surrender, then… _gah! _ Jeremie didn't know what he'd do, he'd need time to mentally wrestle with that dilemma; nor could he speak for his friends. He was confident that Aelita wouldn't be so forgiving though. Not only that, but Jeremie was uncomfortable being spoken for by Ell.

"We have enough resources to live happy and quietly, we don't need to go through with this." whispered Ell quietly, although her voice strained towards the end; as if she almost phrased it as something different.

"Wouldn't they know?" asked Uolith, his motions quick and curt, unreadable.

"Would not they know of us and our affronts to their friends life? Of our power? Would they have us act like a normal company and entertain sniveling investors while they go back to that school or where ever they came from, taking Antea away with them? Would they have us forget why we fight, why we do what we are doing? "

"But of course," he seemed to realize this as he said it. "You never saw the present, _my _present, did you?"

Uolith raised his hand, and discharged several forks of electricity into Ells body. Ell shot back like a rag doll, flying through the air. Jeremie could only fathom how Uolith had gained that ability as he watched Ell fly passed him, stupefied. Either through Uolith's will or sheer bad luck, Ell went through the small doorframe and landed in the hallway where she and Jeremie had entered. The door closed, but instead of the wooden one that stood ajar, a more secure, metallic looking one, sped across on hydraulics.

Jeremie looked back at Uolith.

They were alone.

Uolith folded his hands underneath his chin, glaring at Jeremie.

"You took my daughter from me."

If Uolith could shoot lighting, then he was either a specter, or he infused himself with a specter. Either case, Jeremie refused to be turned around, backed into a corner, as he had in all his other conversations with Uolith, not this time. He wouldn't fight Uolith; he'd keep talking, for now.

"She's an A.I. though, isn't she?"

* * *

William shot down the halls, whipping in and out of random corridors. Specters continued to follow him at impossible speeds, after-images of varying colors apparent behind their blurred forms.

William turned a corner, and shot down yet another hall, his gaseous form jerking ever so slighting in one direction or another, automatically compensating or correcting for some abnormality or abortion in his flight.

Turning another corner, he jerked himself to the side just in time to avoid hitting a black haired girl, of all things, pounding on a metallic security door that refused to let her in.

Black hair. Black, short, hair.

William jerked himself back around immediately. Redirecting himself back towards Ell. This was all the time the two specters trailing William needed, jumping over Ell one after another, they tried to land between the two figures.

William materialized himself and his sword, and in one fluid motion, cleaved open the closest specter before it even touched the ground. The other specter jumped backwards, trying to dance itself out of Williams reach. It was also in midair when two small 'pewts' echoed around the room, and the specter keeled over, dissolving.

The black haired girl held firearm; smoke still leaking from the elongated silencer.

"What are _you _doing here!?" Ell cried, "You have to go! My father can't get the cor-"

William ignored her, shooting a solid stream of smoke at her gut. The bolt of smoke slammed her back into the wall. The smoke kept her there, pinning her limbs and body to the wall. William strode over to her, and raising his sword with mechanical person granted through his specter body, let it hover a mere half of a centimeter above Ell's neck.

"You were the girl at the unveiling," remarked William, more then aggressively. Ell struggled uselessly

"Your going to tell me, exactly, where my friend is." whispered William. Ell struggled to speak, but was silenced as William replaced the smoke in one fluid motion with his left arm, grabbing her fold-over shirt with his arm with the spiked bracer. Ell didn't dare speak, in fear that blade would touch her throat.

"Where's Jeremie!" he shouted, losing his patience.

Ell glanced over at the metal door, situated in the wall three feet to her left from where she was being pinned.

* * *

"Of course she is"

Uolith glared ever pensively at Jeremie.

"So her… her 'realization'?"

"Was her achieving self-awareness, yes. The interesting thing is that despite gaining it, I doubt she has yet to realize herself that she is artificial."

Jeremie turned away, troubled. He suddenly wished he could be anywhere but here with Uolith, no matter how dire and serious the situation. No matter how much he needed to be there, how his friends and the world needed him to be there. To fight Uolith.

* * *

"The core of XANA." Hissed Ell, "its inside of you, ever since you've been freed from XANA, you've been his back-up hard drive. My father is behind that door with Jeremie, if he gets the core, then he will use it to restart XANA, but modified so its directly under his control."

William stared at Ell, trying to process what she was saying. All he had wanted was directions for crying out loud.

"I freed Jeremie, and we were going to take down my father together, but Jeremies in there alone with him now! You have to let me help him, and leave here before my father sees you! We can't let him get the core of XANA."

"You freed him?" asked William, amused.

"Yes." Said Ell indignantly, flipping her long bang of hair out of her eye.

"And that white haired guy, he's your dad?" asked William

"Jeremie is in there, with him, alone." Hissed Ell impatiently, "What's it going to take to make you believe me."

"A lot." Confessed William harshly, "I saw you at the unveiling, you're the one who sprung the trap for us, and you're the one who reported that Aelita was there."

William leaned closer to the black haired girls face.

"I see no reason at all to trust you."

"Then don't." said Ell, "You wanted to know where Jeremie is, I'm telling you now, he's behind the door three feet to my left."

* * *

"Imagine going for a walk, breaking off a leaf or cutting a strand of thread." Uolith continued, paying no head to Jeremie's discomfort. "And then continuing on with your walk, forgetting you ever had done such a thing, but your destiny has been fulfilled."

Now genuinely curious, for Jeremie still believed that Uolith was not _that_ kind of insane yet, he tilted his head slightly, indicating Uolith to explain more.

"Such a thing would make you trivial and insignificant, but compared to the rest of humanity, that's exactly right. The ideal is that by cutting the strand of thread, you have somehow influenced or started a chain of events that will in turn, grant or deny life on any scale. The truth would be, that you could have fulfilled your own destiny already, and not have known, and be just a useless waste of space to fate."

Uolith paused, trying to gauge Jeremies' opinion.

"That, would the interpretation of destiny, according to the testament of Antea, in her religion of Xanduism."

"It seems like a bleak outlook." Observed Jeremie.

"A logical and necessary one." Countered Uolith

"Perhaps." Agreed Jeremie, truth be told, he would have liked to think about the implications of this sort of philosophical way of thinking, but this was neither the time nor place.

"The girl whose body I overshadowed with Program Ell, that was her destiny, to host Ell for me. The fact that I long ago concluded was that I am the byproduct of the web, the strands of fate twisted into one final finishing knot."

The egotism of the statement was lost to the user, and thus Jeremie shuffled uncomfortably.

"I knew that I had to do… _this_… the moment all the factors and possibilities became real, I knew it was the product of every single misfortune and cataclysm of my time and my life that I be sent back, that I take control of all factors and never, ever, let the downward spiral into the era of human extinction."

"We are quite capable of taking care of ourselves." Said Jeremie, "What ever comes, will come, and humanity will persevere as it always has."

Suddenly, a strange thought jabbed Jeremies mind,

"Don't you risk a lot?" asked Jeremie, "By 'taking control of all the factors' you deny your future from coming to be, yes, but you also throw the future into uncertainty…your could be condemning humanity to an even worse fate."

Uolith looked down at Jeremie with utter distain, "I'm a business man Jeremie, I take risks, but not stupid risks. My present is hell upon the mortal plane, and logically, the gamble, the odds are in my favor that the future will be in my favor."

A particularly strange glint shone in his green eyes

"Especially, if I control what will happen from now, until then."

"You can't" said Jeremie, oh so lonely all by himself in front of the big scary evil genius.

The glint did not falter as Uolith walked up to Jeremie, and placed his clean, pale, hands on Jeremies shoulders. Jeremie tried to slip away, but somehow, he felt like he didn't have anything to fear from Uolith at this point.

"When you first came here, I offered you a post in my company, a position where your talents to wield this glorious, virtual world technology, will be needed. I need you Mr. Belpois, I need people who can write worlds, who can understand what I mean and how I see the world. I need people who are intelligent enough to realize, that this was the only course of action that _could_ be taken."

"You just want justification." Countered Jeremie, "Not even mine, but Waldo Schaeffer's justification. I can't give it to you."

Uolith creased his eyes in understanding.

"Perhaps, but I offer it to you again, a position at Lupos corp. Join with me, excel where Ell failed. Survive the coming storm, a person of intellect such as yourself deserves it."

Jeremie looked down at the ground.

"I'm not going to join you."

Jeremie was deftly reminded of the first time he answered Uolith's offer, and considered how he had changed, grow, or matured since then… perhaps he had just gotten some sleep.

Uolith sighed, sounding utterly defeated on the subject.

"As you wish, Jeremie Belpois."

Electricity surged through Jeremies body, numbing him to his core. With inhuman strength, Uolith single-handedly thrust Jeremie into the wooden paneled wall.

"Then join the rest of your devolved species." Spat Uolith, marching forward towards Jeremies prone form, electricity dancing at his fingertips. "Whither and die while the world is cleansed. Suffer, you despicable insect."

One huge scrape of metal on metal, another, yet another, and the door was shredded open. Through it burst William, hands clasped on his giant of a blade. Behind him stepped in Ell.

Uolith took one look at William, and his eyes fell upon the mark on his chest, the eye of XANA, the religious symbol, the 'Lyoko'.

"Is it my birthday today?" he remarked distantly, ignoring Jeremie completely and reaching out a pale hand to William.

"Get away from him!" screamed Ell, jumping to put her small frame in the defense of the battle-ready, intimidating, looking William from the formal, weak, looking Uolith. William, who was more then ready to fight with his blade, couldn't help but be thrown off, surprised by Ells actions. Was she telling the truth after all?

"Get out of my way, _daughter_." Hissed Uolith, lifting her and shoving her off to the side with a stream of electricity.

"I'll purge you, later."

"Ell!" roared Jeremie.

"Jeremie?" asked William, recognizing the voice. Looking over, he saw Jeremie for the first time.

"William, get out of here!" screamed Jeremie from his crumpled position on the floor, remembering that Uolith wanted to core.

"Not without you." Said William, he and the others had come too far and fought too many battles just to give up here. Raising his sword, he charged Uolith with an upward swing…

…To have Uolith deftly catch the blade with a single hand.

"None of that now." Taunted Uolith, and in his hands, the sword de-virtualized, shattering into millions of little pixels and partials.

"Wai-" William was cut off as another jab of electricity from Uolith's palm coursed through his body. Rather then be thrown backward though, he was hoisted into the air, writhing in pain. His body bugged and pixilated, threatening to de-virtualize like his sword at any moment. The jagged strands of electricity congregated, focusing on Williams's chest, which caused them to tint an abnormal purplish red. Then they focused even more, and delved straight into the middle point of the symbol of the eye, causing William obvious enormous pain.

From within the depths of Williams's chest, the forks of lighting skewered and removed a small, pulsing red orb. The orb showed resistance at leaving Williams body, but the lighting finally, with a final heave, ripped it from its host. William collapsed on the floor, his since then muted cry of agony came to be heard through the room, distorted by his badly damaged specter body.

"Well," Said Uolith, inspecting the red, pulsing orb that the electricity had brought back to hover over his palm, "Hello there, you poor creature."

Suddenly, Uolith closed his palm, absorbing the red orb into his hand, causing the red aura to sink into his body.

"It has been said." He began, the red aura completely engulfing him, giving him a trance like state.

"That actions, events like this, would be the end of all things."

Uolith blinked, and his eyes changed, changed into eyes Jeremie had hoped he would never had to see again. Eyes, with XANA as their pupils.

"This is only the beginning."

* * *

Outside the Lupos corp. building:

Cars drove along the immediate road along side the rich and important Lupos corporation center. Sleek elegant cars. Few to no pedestrians or civilians would be found walking these sidewalks, for the shadow cast by the building provided little to enjoy.

But just slightly up the road, where the city of Paris had designated some more decent space, stood a grand tourist attraction of pitched tent shops selling trinkets and doodads, crêpes and other foods, and many more cheap but enjoyable items were found here. Plenty of tourists, families from Asia, Japan, and America, were inspecting the products this time of day, amazed just as much by the native shop keepers as the native merchandise. While the items where weren't the highest of quality, the cheapest, or the healthiest, nobody really cared. Everybody was having a good time.

In the shadow of the Lupos Corporation center, in the road where only the sleek elegant cars of investors wanting to catch a glimpse of the fabled technology firm, a rumbling began. Cracks appeared in the roads, and what felt like a small quake jostled the tourist market. Various people remarked that they would have to tell friends and loved ones about that time they had a quake while in Paris, a memorable experience it was.

The Kolossolus erupted out of the road, ripping its way onto the surface world. Debris crushed cars, both parked and driving. The moving cars that did survive the flying debris had to skid to a halt, some not doing so in time. They crashed, into the upturned parts of the road the Kolossolus had left.

A Memorable experience shall be had, indeed.

* * *

Yumi, Ulich and Odd sped down the halls and corridors. No general direction in mind, no attack plan, no fallback plan, no escape plan. The silent, yet accepted idea was search the entire facility, every room and door. They dared not split up, for if any of them found themselves into a pack of specters, they were more likely to survive as a group.

They were lucky enough to be going down a hallway along the front of the building when it started, one with a window view of the city, several stories below.

The tremor came, causing all three of them to stop and cry out in surprise.

"Wh- what was that?" asked Yumi hesitantly.

"The same as everything else around here," replied Odd matter-of-factly, "Not good news for us."

Ulrich couldn't help but silently agree with Odds dark quip. The corridor seemed empty both in the direction they were going and the way they had come, but Ulrich still couldn't shake the feeling of danger, and how it was somehow visible.

He glanced out the window for the slightest of seconds, before he processed exactly what he saw.

"Oh… no."

More tremors shook the building as Odd and Yumi followed his gaze. The Kolossolus pulled itself from the rubble of the road. In all its terrible power and glory, its two lanky, unused mandibles dangled as it righted itself. Standing to its full height, it begun to walk… lumber its way down the urban route of Paris, headed straight for a tourist market at the intersection.

"The Kolossolus." Whispered Ulrich, "The Kolossolus is here… why… why is it here?" asked Ulrich helplessly. The Kolossolus, it could only mean XANA was alive, all along. It was XANA after all.

"We have to go!" urged Odd, "We have to go take out that thing before it makes crêpes out of the crêpe stands!"

Ulrich couldn't agree more, and started to follow Odd, running back the way they had come when…

"No!"

Ulrich stopped dead, and Odd spun around with an exasperated, "HUH?!"

Yumi hadn't moved.

"We need to find William, Aelita and Jeremie first." She pleaded, "Once they're safe, they can help us take out the Kolossolus."

"We can't Yumi," answered Ulrich hurriedly, "That Kolossolus is walking straight for the market, if we don't move now, we'll never stop it before it reaches the intersection."

Glancing out the window, Ulrich saw the Kolossolus already start to slowly lumber its way down the road.

"William, Aelita, and Jeremie can take care of themselves, now lets go!" shouted Odd, turning around once again.

"I can't"

Ulrich looked at Yumi, disbelievingly.

"Why the hell not?!" asked Odd, more then a little frustrated.

Yumi stayed Silent

"Why not, Yumi?" Asked Ulrich gently but firmly.

"I just can't, I have to keep going here."

"Those people are going to die!" screamed Odd, enraged by Yumi's apparent lack of morals, and impatent for time. "Aelita and Will and Jer are important, but _we_ have to stop that Kolossolus, _now_!"

"He's right Yumi." Agreed Ulrich, "Come on."

Ulrich tried to reach for his girlfriend's hand, to pull her away from her position and guider her outside along with the rest of them.

"NO!" she shouted, pulling away from Ulrich, "I can't leave him alone in here!"

Silence…

"William?" asked Ulrich, his face dead set.

Yumi only nodded.

Ulrich glared at the floor, "I thought, I... I thought we settled thi--"

"oh…My…GOD!" the expression came not from Ulrich as one might expect, but from Odd, and neither in the way one would expect Odd to say it. It was exasperated, and desperate.

"What the _fuck_, is wrong with you two and your little love triangles?" asked Odd, "Seriously. I'm not joking around here. Every time its 'oh he's kissing Sissy', 'oh she's kissing William', 'oh he's making out with Emily' 'oh she and Jeremie have been going behind my back'… _Every_ single time, guess who had to pick up the slack, either in Lyoko or the real world that you left behind while you're off making up with each other. _Every_ single fucking time."

Ulrich winced, and couldn't help but notice a grain of truth in Odds words.

"And now you pull this… this _crap_, right out in the middle of this?" Odd gestured out the window.

"I don't believe you two, I honestly don't. Have fun squabbling about whom you fucked last night. I'm going out there, and I'm going to try and stop that Kolossolus."

With that, Odd turned tail to face the window. Raising one arm, he released a volley or randomly aimed arrows out the window. The glass shattered easily under the purple arrowheads, creating a large enough hole for a humanoid anthrop-cat.

With little thought for his own safety, Odd jumped out the window.

Ulrich turned to look at Yumi.

"He's right." Was all he said. Ulrich walked to where Odd had jumped, preparing to do so himself. His mingled and enraged, confused thoughts, he pushed them back. They would settle it another time.

"It was my fault." She said suddenly. "My fault William ever went to Lyoko, my fault he got possessed by XANA in the first place. If it wasn't for Jeremie and Aelita, we might have lost William forever… I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if that happened."

Ulrich looked away from the towering edge that he now stood on, and over his shoulder to the woman he loved.

"If anything, anything happens to him in here… It will be my fault… all my fault for ever getting him involved in Lyoko."

Yumi looked ready to break into tears, had her specter form been equipped with tear ducts.

Ulrich didn't know what to think… he would need time, time to sort out his thoughts. Now, he didn't have time. He felt gravity take hold, and he plummeted down to the earth, drawing his swords.

* * *

Well, its been forever since I've entertained you denizens of the interweb. Hows it hanging?

Yeah, this one kinda took FOREVER. and I STILL don't think I got it right. Uolith seemed a little too cheesy, Ell seemed out of character, and Odd... heh.

I always wanted to do that with Odd. Have him get so fed up of the love triangles going between Yumi and Ulrich, and how they interfere with them getting the job done.

The Kolossolus is roaming the streets of Paris, about to demolish a tourist market. Uolith is undergoing a frighting transformation, Odd dramatically jumps out a window to play lone ranger after getting fed up with Yumi and Ulrichs love triangles. Meanwhile, Yumi holds herself to blame for William, and that leaves to some of my first and ONLY UxY shipping.

William himself... is down and out for now, what will become of him? We shall see

And Aelita... what is to become of her?

Have a good summer guys, I dunno when the next chapter will be up. The retaliation begins soon though, and the battle for Paris, for earth, begins.

How'd you like that picture of Ell, by the way?


End file.
